Sisters Act!
by Typewriterman
Summary: The Sisters have risen up and rebellion threatens to destroy Academy City. Chapter 7: Touma has taken up the task to protect the Sisters once more.  How can he save the long-haired Sister who has yet to wake up from their first encounter?
1. What hurts the heart scars the mind

**Prologue**

Sitting uncomfortably in an aisle seat in the economy class section of a plane is a man wearing a white lab coat.

A bead of sweat trails down his temple as the pressure from the plane's speed continues to take its toll on the inexperienced traveler.

This plane that was designed and built in Academy City is capable of flying up to Mach 3, three times the speed of sound, something that most other planes in the world currently could not hope to reach.

The total trip time of an hour and a half is still only a dream for everyone else who still must travel between 12-14 hours to reach the same destination.

It is a destination that Amai Ao has been to before.

A slight tremor shook the cabin and seats from a brief period of turbulence, which caused him to grit his teeth from the feeling. Flying at about 7000 kph, such turbulence would have caused massive damage to any other kind of plane, causing possibly a dramatic crash into the ocean below. Instead, the event only creates a short moment of unpleasantness, like a sleek sports car driving at high speed over a graveled road.

A sharp pain as though he had swallowed a dozen swords stabs at Amai Ao's chest and causes him to cough to adjust the tension.

Reaching into the interior pocket of his white coat, he quickly twists open the white topped orange plastic cylinder and popped a white tablet the size of a watch battery into his mouth. The taste of flour fills his mouth when he chews on the tablet and returns the plastic cylinder to his inside pocket. Not even a swig of mineral water from the bottle provided with his lunch earlier makes the chalky taste go away.

The thought of returning to Academy City made him queasy with displeasure, like being told he had only one way of graduating high school and that was getting a perfect exam grade on all seven of his finals even when he had essays and projects to deal with for regular class.

The feeling was strong enough that it had overcome the pressure of the plane's speed, if for just a few seconds.

The announcement of their arrival from the automated voice coming from the speakers was noted, after the same message was repeated in several languages including Japanese, but the specific details were not especially paid attention to.

In the window seat to his right is a girl, whose brown hair reached down to the middle of her back.

Her clothes were not anything especially noteworthy; casual clothes like jeans and a hooded sweater. Clothes that girls her age wore, Amai figured simply.

Showing no sign of being affected by the Gs produced by the plane's speed, the girl stared out of the reinforced glass windows of the plane with a neutral look on her face, watching as individual clouds zoomed quickly passed above a vast expanse of the barely illuminated ocean below.

"You heard that? We're almost there…" he said to the girl in heavily accented English.

"…"

The researcher rolled his eyes away and took a glance around the cabin.

The supersonic passenger plane was a size bigger than the usual passenger planes, but as of yet they only served to carry people to and from Academy City and not between other countries. Because of such a narrow range of customers there were many seats left empty.

He shut his eyes for a few minutes but was too put off by the oppressive feeling of the plane's speed falling onto his body to go to sleep. Opening his right eye, he glanced again at the girl sitting next to the window.

"Do you remember being in Academy City?" he said again in heavily accent English. It was not a matter of simple curiosity on his part but a test of the last few years of his experiments, especially the most recent months before this trip had begun.

"…" he stared at the girl and the lack of response and closed his eye again, too tired to pursue a conclusive result at the moment.

"Just make sure you finish up quick so I can go back…" he mumbled in Japanese as another sharp pain shot through his chest. Another pang of anxiety struck when the loud whirring of the plane's landing gear rumbled throughout the entire plane. Because of the high speed, it was necessary for the plane to slow down even before its official descent procedures took place, causing a slight shutter of the entire aircraft even before the full turbulence caused by the outstretched wheels' air friction took effect.

His throat tightened up and the number of swords in his chest seemed to have doubled. Amai opened his eyes again to remove the image of the white haired demon that had been lurking in the back of his mind; the reason of his insomnia for the past month but even more so in the last few days when he was told he would be going back to Academy City to oversee the final parts of the plan.

It was then so maddening to have to return even if he was paired with the girl sitting next to him.

If the plan succeeded, the matter of his being wanted would probably not matter, but his life expectancy was in danger no matter what the outcome.

His actions concerning what happened that August left only the underworld as his sole option for research and his livelihood.

It was the actions of Academy City for wasting his research in failing the experiment and leaving him indebted after he invested so much into the Level 6 Shift Program.

It was the actions of that damned Yoshikawa Kikyou who shot him and left him for dead.

It was the actions of that demon Accelerator for interfering in the first place. He was supposed to kill those clones and reach Level 6 so all of that investment wasn't a waste. He wasn't supposed to give a damn about those clones and just watch with a stupid grin when Last Order was infected with a virus.

Not caring about the chalky, flour taste in his mouth that would result he quickly popped a second tablet and hurriedly chewed as his anxiety grew but the chest pains slowly disappeared.

Outside the window, the expanse of ocean visible during most of the flight had since been replaced by the increasingly urban sprawl of land until they came upon the wide black expanse of tarmacs that primarily comprised District 23.

Staring at the back of the seat in front of him instead of outside the window, where in the flat horizon the sun continued to peer and cast its morning light onto Academy City, Amai Ao took a deep breath as the plane landed, then taxied toward the gate.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>

- Sequel to "Sister Act!", it's not necessary reading but I'll be making references to it.

- All characters belong to Kazama Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura as author and illustrator, respectively.


	2. The ones protected are making their move

****When canon and boredom collide, the story begins…** **

* * *

><p><strong>Part 1<strong>

It's lunchtime at a certain high school, and like students often did, many split off into groups of "haves" and "have-nots". That is, those who had homemade lunches and those who didn't—had to rush off to the cafeteria before all of the good food was sold out.

Of the students left in the class room, three boys in particular were getting into a heated debate.

"Rice balls; it's gotta be rice balls made from scratch to show how devoted she is!" Pressing closely to his classmate's desk, the blue-haired Aogami Pierce relished in his fantasy as he answered the question of "What makes a good homemade lunch?"

"The best part is, they don't even have to be made well! In fact, it'd be even better if there were a few poorly made ones; evidence that she made tons and TONS of them and slowly got better while making them just. For. Me."

The self-described fanatic rolled his head around while hugging the desk like it was a physical substitution of a girl in his imagination.

Kamijou Touma didn't really appreciate having his desk molested in such a manner.

"Nah, what's the point of getting food if it wasn't good in the first place? Sure, I'd give in to eating a few bad lunches at first, but there's no way I'd let it go on until I start getting digestive problems!"

Leaning back in his chair, the spiky-haired teen sighed and shuddered at such a thought. "I wouldn't mind her just buying me lunch instead. Heck, I could just make the lunch myself, right? It's the thought that counts…the thought!"

"Tsk, tsk, Kami-yan, are you just upset that no one ever goes out of their way to make food for you? You see _my_ Maika-"

"Shut up, we know!" "Shut up, we know!"

The other two boys growled irritably at the blond-haired third member of their group, Tsuchimikado Motoharu. It was one thing to tolerate the sunglasses wearing teen's comments about his half sister, but it was another to always get the same bragging story.

"And girls make food for me all the time!" Touma added in a still annoyed tone of voice.

The other two laid their eyes on him for not realizing the underlying meaning of that comeback.

"Well it's a given that those with harems will have certain perks, nya!"

"Tsk, I keep telling you I _don't_ have a harem…"

"Geez you guys, I can't believe you're so into perpetuating that boyish fantasy of girls making you food."

Unable to continue eating her lunch of green, yellow and red vegetables with brown rice and tofu-infused with chicken breast strips without commenting, Fukiyose Seiri glared irritably at the "Delta Force" comprised of Tsuchimikado, Aogami and Kamijou.

Seated opposite of where she sat was a longhaired girl named Himegami Aisa, who slowly decided to tuck away the notes she was writing on Touma's food preferences while her friend continued.

"Oh yeah? Then what kind of food would you make a guy you liked?" Kamijou thoughtlessly blurted out, like an adventurer rushing into a cavern potentially covered in riches without looking out for any traps or dangerous pitfalls.

"You dumbass, my point was that I WOULDN'T do something like that!"

"Nya, then what food would you want a guy to make for you then?"

"OH! Nice turnaround, Tsuchimikado!"

At first taken aback by the turned-around question, the well-endowed Fukiyose crossed her arms under her well sized chest and thought over her answer. Of course, there was no way she would admit she'd love to be given all of the different foods that were made up of healthy ingredients that she had neither the time or money to get, without any hidden agenda or reason to do so other than truly caring for her health and well being.

"So this guy you're imagining…is he getting to second base for being so good to you, nya?"

"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT IDEA!" Grinding her teeth, Fukiyose searched around for something heavy to throw at the smirking blond teen.

"Yeah, Tsuchimikado, what second ba-" because he had turned away from the angered girl, Touma took the full force of a hard-covered textbook thrown into the back of his head which was originally aimed at the still-smirking Tsuchimikado.

Rubbing the back of his sore head, Touma arched his eyebrow when he picked up and read the title of the weaponized object. "Tsk… what is this…'How to get the Oblivious Teen'?"

"Ah, my book!" Aisa cried out helplessly with a heavy shade of red coloring her face.

"You know, I also wouldn't mind getting a foreign girl to offer me a dish from her homeland." Aogami Pierce turned his attention toward Tsuchimikado.

"Oh yeah, that's also a great scenario, huh?" Tsuchimikado responded with a nod. "Something that seems so bizarre but ends up being a favorite dish, nya…"

While Touma was busy being attacked by both Fukiyose and Aisa for what he still couldn't realize was his current possession of the "How-To" book in his hand, like clockwork a certain silver haired girl found herself strolling into a certain spiky-haired teen's classroom.

The students, upon seeing this girl who wore not a high school uniform but a white nun's habit, took no particular action toward the girl who was obviously not a student.

"Oh hey, it's Kamijou's little Sister!"

"Hey there, little Sister!"

"Did Kamijou forget something again, little Sister?"

Her random appearances in the classroom having long since become commonplace, Index, while carrying a small kitten in her arms, traipsed about with minor irritancy toward being referred to as "small".

Of course, she did not stop the students who felt embarrassed at causing such a cutely annoyed reaction in the girl from offering her parts of their homemade or store bought lunches.

"Touma!" the nun rushed forward at the boy being assailed by his two classmates, "you forgot to make me food…again! I thought…me and Sphinx…were going to starve!" It was difficult to take the girl's claims seriously when they were said in-between bites of recently acquired portions of others' school lunches.

The cat simply mewed in agreement.

"Tch…" Touma casually pushed his lunch, which he had yet to actually bite into since the beginning of the break, slightly away from the still-to-be-satiated Index. "I'll be doing grocery shopping later, Index. Besides, what happened to those leftovers from last night? There was at least two days' worth of food!"

'_And that's keeping your appetite in mind!_' Touma dared not to say this part out loud.

It was lucky for Touma that he happened to be next-door neighbors with Tsuchimikado and therefore by extension his sister Maika. Maika was not an ESPer but attended school in Academy City to train as a maid at Ryoran Maid School and just so happened to have had a cooking test coming up the other day.

While Tsuchimikado was the primary (and willing) guinea pig for her cooking, Maika's strive for perfection led to an enormous amount of leftovers that would probably have gone to waste if it was all kept at their apartment.

It was thus a stroke of good fortune that the Tsuchimikado siblings kept the often hungry and poor Touma and Index in mind and gave them the leftover food which was overall exceptional in quantity and nutrition.

"I ate it." She answered unhesitatingly.

"Argh! What was the point of me labeling those containers for each day if you were just going to eat it all!"

"Touma! You shouldn't be getting mad when it's your fault there wasn't enough food to eat past breakfast!" Index responded in a stern manner.

"'Breakfast'? That was all just breakfast? You're such a glutton, Ind-w-w-wait Ms. Index please don't punish this poor Kamijou Touma for calling you names by chomping on my HEAAA-!"

* * *

><p><strong>Part 2<strong>

As lunch was nearly over and haven had her full of other people's lunches, Index began to leave when a pink-haired child that was actually not a child rushed into the room.

Within a second of her walking in the school bell rang, signaling the end of break and a sign that the students had to return to their seats.

"S-sister, could you please leave Kamijou and the others alone for now? Class is starting again."

It was an almost weekly occurrence that Tsukuyomi Komoe had to shoo away the silver haired nun, since there wasn't anything she could do to prevent her coming back again the next day.

"Hmmm…alright…"

By this point in time, Index was already past being stubborn about leaving and did as she was told, if at least begrudgingly, after getting a confirmation from Touma that he was going to be shopping before coming back to the apartment.

After Index had left, Komoe sighed and turned her attention toward the class.

"I know it's a bit sudden," the teacher who strongly claimed to be an adult said, "but I was just told today that we'd be having a new transfer student."

Such an announcement brought up a predictable stir in the students as they murmured and made guesses about the transfer.

"Well…" Komoe shifted nervously as she glanced toward the open door, "you can come in now."

As soon as the teacher called out toward the hallway, a brown haired girl wearing another school's uniform walked into the classroom. Without taking notice at the other students, the girl approached the teacher and turned in a robotic manner to face the rest of the room.

Even with as slight a movement as her turn was, the heart-shaped necklace the girl wore swung and jingled with a soft chime.

"Isn't that a Tokiwadai uniform?"

"But Tokiwadai is a middle school, right?"

The class murmured about while a pair of blue and yellow haired teens pumped their fists into the air for the new student being a girl.

"What…is _she_ doing here?" Touma gasped in abject horror of the transfer student's identity.

"This is something Onee-sama wears, so this Misaka has decided to wear it as well' Misaka explains her choice to wear this form of dress."

With a quick response that Mikoto was sure to approve of, the girl with a heart-shaped necklace turned and shot an obvious "OK" with her fingers and thumb, which only caused the spiky haired boy sitting at his desk to panic and wave his arms crazily to get her to stop doing so.

"If you could just quickly introduce yourself, Miss Misaka..."

"Yes. You may use the given name 'Jun'' Misaka says with a bow according to custom."

'_This is the first time I've heard of her having a given name…_' Touma cracked a small grin as he thought back to how the Sisters had acted when he first came to know about them.

The thought of them developing their own given names, no matter how they came about, was a welcoming change. Especially since he sincerely meant when he said that every Misaka clone was the only one in the world back on that August 22nd.

"Because of the sudden notice, we'll have to do your full self-introduction another time in order for my lecture not to be pushed back." The pink haired teacher explained apologetically and scanned the desks that populated the classroom. "So, Miss Misaka, you can sit over next to Kami-…WAIT! NO! I-MEANT-FUKIYOSE-SEIRI!"

"HEY!" Touma jumped out of his chair and slammed his fists against the table. Though not actually incensed, Touma felt a sting prick at his ego from how fast the small teacher retracted her original seating plan and tried to move the Sister into a farther seat as though he was declared to be someone with a very particularly contagious strain of cooties.

"EH?" Shocked at being yelled and glared at so intensely by the teenager, the demure pink-haired teacher hid slightly behind the transfer student girl; a move much uncharacteristic of a self-proclaimed adult.

"The hell, Kamijou? Don't scare Komoe-tan like that!" a blue haired teen threw a bundle of paper at the instigator.

"Like you need _another_ girl for your harem, Kami-yan!"

"I KEEP TELLING YOU GUYS I DON'T HAVE A HAREM!"

* * *

><p><strong>Part 3<strong>

It had only been a few weeks, but after haven just returned from her doctor's appointment, Kuroko was finally allowed to stop applying her burn ointment.

It was a particularly expensive sort, too.

Not only was it pain soothing and scar removing, it was odorless and great for skin rejuvenation to remove wrinkles, crow's feet around the eyes, bags under the eyes and freckles.

Inspecting herself in the mirror, the twin-tailed girl nodded at how she looked (and felt) a year younger, an absurd thought given her age as a middle school student and natural youthful cuteness to boot.

It just so happened that there was nothing like a bit of vanity to boost one's self esteem after feeling like a mummy wrapped in medical gauze for weeks on end.

There was even a special body gel to continue the process of her treatment without the threat of infection from the harsher soaps and cleansers that would accompany traditional bathing. The anti-bacterial body gel was unfortunately not available as an odorless composition.

Despite the hundreds if not thousands of times she had experienced being struck by the lightening fury of her roommate, it appeared that Kuroko's last endeavor for "skinship" ended in large scale damages to their room (to be paid by the school) and electrical burns for herself. Fourth degree burns.

There was also trauma-related memory loss on top of that. The hospital had a psychologist on its staff and readily sent him in to check on her mental state but it appeared there was nothing troubling about her condition. Of course, there was no way that Kuroko would tell a doctor or psychologist or even psychiatrist of a very vivid dream of being sandwiched between two Misaka Mikoto.

In any case, for all intents and purposes Kuroko was healed mind and body, a new crop of presentations and exams were on the horizon and her Judgment work had begun to pile up on account of her absence.

There was only so much Uiharu and Konori were able (and willing) to do.

With fortuitous timing, three light raps drew the girl's attention toward the door as soon as she was finished putting on the jacket to complete the Tokiwadai Middle School's winter uniform attire.

Though it was a school day, Kuroko remembered that her roommate Misaka Mikoto had left earlier than usual that morning.

It felt completely familiar somehow, to the point of déjà vu to walk toward the door despite it being her roommate to check up on her.

In fact this scene was very familiar to Kuroko as though she had read a scene similar to this in a story before, while placing her hand onto the doorknob.

Upon opening the door, Kuroko's body had a miniature spasm when she recognized the pair of brown eyes that was so identical to her roommate's.

Being able to discern the differences though, the corner of Kuroko's lip twitched when she focused on the pair of military-grade goggles covering the girl's bangs.

The only thing out of place from her grainy memory of a few weeks ago was the women's magazine tightly clutched in the arms of the girl standing before her.

The teleporter's eyes bulged and like a lab mouse afraid to latch onto the cheese with wires attached to it, she jumped back in fearful regret of opening the door in the first place.

"…Misaka…" Kuroko's skin tingled all over as though she was afflicted with body-wide sunburns that chastised her for playing outside all day without putting on UV protective cream. "…JUN!"

Reflecting on what was supposed to be fictional trauma Kuroko squatted low to the ground with her hands clutching her head while coming to terms with reality.

It was a dream.

There wasn't two Misaka Mikotos who bickered about "32" or some such. Misaka Mikoto was an only child, wasn't she?

A tomboy-ish electromaster with no peer who wore childish underwear and shorts under her skirt and loved Gekota the frog mascot and did not wear military-grade goggles…

The only daughter with a college student mother and a world-traveling father… (It was important to know this much as a sign of sincerity of her feelings toward the Level 5 ESPer.)

"...Jun?" The short haired brunette squeaked. "Um, no, the 'Jun' you are regarding of is 10032.' Misaka says while recalling the origin of that name in the memory databanks. This Misaka is referred to as Misaka 19090' Misaka says to correct the misunderstanding."

Saying this while pointing toward herself in a meek manner, the clone's eyes lit up with subdued panic, like a beauty pageant contestant realizing after answering that she completely misunderstood the question while standing in front of thousands of people in the audience.

"Oh! Uh no, not Misaka 19090! A-and please disregard Misaka mentioning Misaka 10032!' Misaka says anxiously while attempting to redact her introduction!"

Quickly rifling through the pages of the magazine, the girl settled on a predetermined page and timidly tapped her finger on a portion of text. "Kate!" she said with a bit of glee while sounding out the word. "…not Jun or Misaka 19090 but Misaka Kate!' Misaka says to finalize the previous correction."

"E-eh?" Kuroko was so lost at this point that she was unsure if she was supposed to be confused or not.

"Th-then did I still imagine meeting a Misaka Jun when I actually met a Misaka Kate? Or did I hallucinate seeing a sister after being attacked by Onee-sama but still ended up right about a sister existing? O-or did a sister manifest from my imagination, after it was charged by the sheer power of Onee-sama's electricity!"

"…" The self-introduced Misaka Kate could not come up with a quick enough response to this sudden blitz of questions.

"Hmmm…"

It was then that a furious number of stomps rushed closer from the hallway, as a second short haired brunette beauty slid into view. "D-DAMN IT, KUROKO! YOU'RE JUST IMAGINING EVERYTHING!" Mikoto screamed out with a pant as a crackle sounded out between her fringe.

"Stop, Onee-sama!' Misaka begs while trying to prevent a recurrence of events!" the Sister unexpectedly jumped in front of the twin tailed girl, opening her arms out in an obvious effort to shield her from an oncoming attack.

"Oh…" Kuroko couldn't help but be enchanted by the smell of the girl's hair standing in front of her.

"W-what are you doing?" Stopped in her tracks, Mikoto froze in place at the clone's perplexing actions.

"Yes. Just the question_ I_ was about to ask, Ms. Misaka. Not using your powers while inside the dormitory, _are we_?"

Mikoto's body froze at the cold voice that spoke from behind her.

Making a slight leap into the room to create a distance from the open door, she spun on her toes to face back toward the hallway again and both she and Kuroko automatically stood rigid at the sight of the Dorm Mistress.

Wearing similar painted-on smiles, the two girls simultaneously bowed in a stiff manner.

Leaving the Sister without a clue as to how to act, she followed their lead just seconds after they motioned in an effort to not be out of place.

"H-h-how do you do, Dorm Mistress…?" Mikoto greeted in a shaky voice as Kuroko copied her silently in making a slight head tilt. "Using our powers? Nooooo, of _course _not, heh…heheh…because you see, we both have electricity powers so…i-it was a slight discharge between us sisters and our electricity powers! Just a discharge!"

Raising her hand, the two girls winced just slightly while the woman moved to adjust the frame of her glasses before crossing her arms over her torso in a stern but ladylike manner.

"You already probably know but apparently _failed _to inform _me_ that your sister has been allowed to transfer into our school." Like an executioner who was told at the last minute by telephone that a prisoner had just received a pardon from the governor, the Dorm Mistress leered toward the barely breathing girls.

"I expect you to take care of your sister, Ms. Misaka. As it _is_ a special case coming straight from the Board that even the Chairman has orders to follow, so_ I'll_ have to allow it.

"I'll simply take out my frustration by giving you and your roommate demerit points."

Closing the door, the woman had disappeared as quickly as she showed up.

"…"

Like they had reached the surface after taking a deep dive into the water, the two girls finally managed to exhale and begin breathing normally. They even began exchanging slight grins as the tension seemingly wiped away Mikoto's previous intent to attack her roommate in an effort to wipe her mind again.

"So…you're really transferring into Tokiwadai?" Mikoto looked toward her clone.

"Y-yes…' Misaka answers while enjoying being able to personally meet you for the first time…" the Sister answered sheepishly.

The wires in Kuroko's head were all but certainly crossed as her eyes drank in the sight of the two girls before her. "Onee-sama…Can she sleep with me tonigh-"

A burst of electricity crackled from her fringe. "SHUT UP KUROKO!"

* * *

><p><strong>Part 4<strong>

School had finished and what was a number of mishaps and misunderstandings involving Misaka 10032, now known as Misaka Jun, as she navigated her way through a high school class.

In terms of academics and the actual curriculum the Misaka clone had no trouble at all as she used the maximum of her Testament "upbringing" as well as the Misaka Network to answer questions whenever she was called upon.

It was especially prudent of her to have done so as, according to 13577, she would have been in dire straits in regards to how she was perceived as "the new girl"; especially one who was not only a transfer but also supposedly a middle-schooler.

Most social norms and mores were also available through both Testament and easily researchable through the Network, but application of the current standards of behavior, as well as the real-time "modern-age advice" found from multiple source texts scoured by 13577, 10039 and 19090 was challenging to say the least.

To be urged to be participatory in the lecture and recitation periods yet overhear many comments from her new classmates about her first impression from wearing a Tokiwadai Middle School uniform was contradictory and confusing.

Another overwhelming feat was Misaka quickly finding herself the company of the students during breaks in the class, being asked questions as well as shielded from many of the boys by the girls.

Although 13577 was quick to warn that there may be some hidden agendas in the friendly nature of the other students toward her, the teenager maga—the "source texts" she researched also cautioned becoming taken by paranoia.

"High School is a battlefield" noted 13577 in a stern manner through the Network.

Despite that, it was an astounding feat for the classmates to be able to switch from being livid and violent towards each other over the most superficial things like spoken gaffes—such as blurting a comment about Fukiyose Seiri's large breasts (which led to an immediate and disproportionate level of counterattack—and coordination failure—such as falling into a compromising position under Himegami Aisa (which led to an immediate and disproportionate level of counterattack).

Kamijou Touma was unfortunate enough to be the victim in both cases.

It was the prime objective for Misaka Jun to protect the spiky haired boy because of recent events, but also as her own personal drive to see the one who fought for their as well as their "Older Sister's" sakes. Thus, it was important to keep close observation on Kamijou Touma.

"Why are you following me home?"

The teen whose hair resembled a black hedgehog turned to face the brunette, who had already changed into the blue girl's uniform of his high school.

"The hospital is currently too far away in order to make a timely departure for school. Your apartment on the other hand, from analyzing the geography and calculating all potential routes was determined the next best place to stay' Misaka tells as such to divert your attention from other possible motives."

Touma didn't even hesitate to respond.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no…no, no, no, no, no…no. There's just _too_ much potential danger should that sort of scenario be allowed to happen."

"If you are referring to Onee-sama, then rest assured Misaka will make sure she is not made aware' Misaka says in simpler terms that Misaka will destroy any incriminating evidence

"Hold it there; first off, I can't trust you when you can't even say that while looking me straight in the face. Second, what you said is inappropriate even if you could say it to me while looking straight into my eyes. Third, Mikoto isn't the most immediate reason why I can't take you in."

The Misaka clone couldn't help but take note of Touma being able to say her "older sister's" name when she wasn't around.

"In fact, I'm not even sure why you wanted to start going to school. Couldn't you have gone with Mikoto?"

The girl didn't even hesitate to respond.

"Misaka wanted to be with you.' Misaka admits, while covering her blushing with her hands."

In Touma's mind, he could only think of such a confession a result of the girl's relatively isolated upbringing. Until very recently, none of the Sisters thought of themselves as human, or even had any goals outside of being killed in an experiment.

So because of the sudden opportunity given to them from not only an extended expectancy, but exploring into the world and giving into their curiosity, the teen couldn't help but feel sort of privileged to be able to help such a group earnestly learn and become comfortable about living.

Well, that and the fact that he was completely oblivious to the feelings of this Misaka, much less the feelings of girls all over the world.

"…Ok I'm not sure about letting you stay for a night, but…I can let you stop by for a bit while I ask for some people in mind who could take you in."

Misaka Jun sighed at the boy's complete miss in opportunity.

Without further ado, Touma set his key into the dorm apartment's doorknob, as it had taken him until they were on this floor of the building to confront the Sister following behind him.

"I'm home!" the boy sighed and stepped inside. Leaving his shoes at the entryway, Touma sought to rush as fast as possible to the kitchen to start cooking dinner, in order to distract his ever-loafing "roommate".

"Eh! Why is short-hair here?" Index, lying on the floor close to the television set like a lion lazing about under a tree to hide from the high-noon sun in the Serengeti, became more active while showing dismay at the sudden intrusion of her pride lands by someone she least expected.

The "short-hair" in question of course, was actually referring to a certain Level 5 ESPer whom Index had met several times before.

"No, that's her sister…Jun." Touma answered in a hurry, undaunted from his task to completely sideline the potential danger to his scalp with his vegetable stir fry with day-past-fresh Matsutake mushrooms.

"Oh….EH! Why is short-hair's _sister_, that girl who dragged you out before, here?"

Touma could only curse Index's perfect memory under his breath, which was able to recall when this particular Sister came to their apartment suddenly on September 15 asking for help, hoping not to be overheard.

"She's just stopping by while I made a call to help her find a place. I didn't want you to worry if I didn't come back when I said I would."

Then again such a lie was much easier than saying "she followed me home", Touma thought while taking out his cell phone.

"You can sit in the living room with Index."

Though nodding at the invitation, the brunette only took a single step into the apartment dorm and stayed close to where Touma was.

That was when she took notice of the small kitten playing at Index's feet.

Sorting through his list of contacts, his eyes settled on one name in particular that had already been a great refuge for stragglers. Selecting the number, Touma waited as the dial tone rang in his ear.

"H-hello!" an excited voice sang into his ear, not for a moment hiding any of the characteristics of its owner even over the phone.

"Komoe, I need your help. I sort of have someone in need of a place to stay."

"Eh? Kamijou?"

Though partially ruffled by the familiarity her student took by calling her by her first name, the teacher, who had rushed to pick up her landline phone amidst a mess of beer cans, take-out and cigarettes that would kill any sort of innocent perception of her character.

Her innocence aside, as a teacher, Tsukiyomi Komoe immediately noticed the seriousness in her student's request that awakened her concern. "…does it involve the Sister?"

Komoe never enjoyed the strange affiliation her student had with the silver haired nun. He was a young, hot-blooded male and despite all of his sincerity, Kamijou Touma had on more than one occasion come into dire situations—intentionally or not—with the opposite sex.

If it weren't for sheer kindness accommodating nature toward whatever their situation was, the pink-haired teacher would have given into the responsibility charged to her as an authoritative figure and sought out better living arrangements for the girl.

Kamijou Touma, not knowing any of this running through his teacher's mind, thought that Tsukiyomi Komoe's keen instincts came through and already figured something was up with her newest student, the transfer girl who introduced herself as "Misaka Jun"

"Yeah, well, you see the thing is…" His breath of relief from enjoying how understanding the woman on the other line was cut off when he spied what seemed to be the Sister he had in mind stepping into Index's territory with a calculated recklessness without permission from the lioness.

An oppressive feeling emanated from the two despite the half-polite glances and idle chatter going on between them.

Whereas males would try to intimidate the other or use showy forms of sizing someone up, Misaka Jun and Index seemed cordial and eager to fawn over Sphinx with smiles between them.

Of course as an animal, Sphinx knew better than to rely on sight and sound alone to realize the true nature of the intense high level battle going on between the two girls.

Without making even a mew for help, the cat glanced toward Touma across the room as if it were saying "Please, I don't want to be torn to shreds! There are still so many wonders of this world I've yet to see!"

"Geh!" As a male who suffered a curse known as "misfortune" Touma knew all too well how dangerous it was to interfere. To that end, the teenager gritted his teeth and turned away from the cat's desperate plight lest he succumb to his empathy.

"Kamijou? Is everything alright?"

"Oh, sorry…as for my problem with the Sister, it's as you've guessed…"

"I see. If you don't mind me being honest, I always felt you had to have met under strange circumstances. I agree that some better living arrangements should be found." It was too risky a situation for a boy and a girl to be living alone together, Komoe thought to herself.

"As expected, you really know how to get straight to the point." Touma laughed nervously at the concise observation from his teacher. It was true, meeting Misaka Jun, or that is, the Sisters who were all supposed to be fodder for an experiment to create a Level 6 ESPer. In addition to that, Touma didn't know how he'd be able to support two squatters in his apartment while barely able to feed himself and just Index.

"I'm sorry, Kamijou, but I already have someone staying over at the moment." The soft voice on the other line admitted with a bit of hesitation. "But no worries, I'll make sure that the Sister has a better place to stay than with you!"

"That's…kind of you…" Touma tried to keep his groan quiet at how rude that sounded.

'_Would that _BirBiri_ be willing to let her sister stay over at her dorm?_' Touma frowned as he began walking toward the living room.

Index, who felt she had held back long enough from punishing Touma for not returning to the apartment with the promised grocerices, pounced on the unsuspecting spiky-headed gazelle.

* * *

><p><strong>Between the Lines 1<strong>

In the dark premises of an underground parking garage, populated by cars cast under a sparse number of long rectangular ceiling lights, a group of figures have met nearby a set of overly large white RVs.

As though purposely keeping out of sight and staying close to the shadows the group, some of whom are carrying bags while others armed with rifles, makes sure that no one else who they did not recognize knew of their meeting.

Each of them looks around at the others, taking note of who is present as they form a circle.

With only a nod, the four carrying large black duffel bags set them down and proceed to unzip them open in timed unison.

Two others step to help each of them set up the equipment fitted into the bags, unfolding a set of four tripods, extending and inserting telescopic poles and placing atop a rounded box-like structure, each the size of a toaster or projector, and looks like a modified x-ray machine with two tubes sticking out of two adjacent sides.

In all, four identical sets of machines have been placed around the group at equal distances from each other, five meters to the left and right and across from any of the other machines, and each machine's tubes are aimed at another machine at each corner of the formation; the group has essentially set themselves within a perimeter of the machines.

Another nod, and each of the machines are turned on, whirring to life and each of the figures seem less anxious by this, though tension still exists in the air.

The device that was procured had a simple function: to interfere with electronic communication.

They do this by being wirelessly connected to any similar unit, acting like an invisible fence that, like a wireless collar for dogs, sends vast amounts of concentrated energy of varying wavelengths through to each machine.

Of course the major difference between the two types of devices is the matter of whether the dog is alive or not.

This kind of technology can only exist in a place like Academy City.

Taking care not to be caught in the crossfire of the four machines that not only jams and disrupts communications that stem from hidden electronic devices to even the vibration of air through speech but also causes damage to any active electronics in the vicinity because of the high amounts of energy that will surge into them, the group is fully convinced that their meeting cannot be recorded or surveyed, as even machines the size of atoms are possible to make in a scientifically advanced place like Academy City.

There are some unintended consequences of using these portable Electronic Magnetic Pulse projectors.

As any nearby electronics will sustain damage from the vast energies produced by the machines, none of the group has brought their pairs of military-like electronic goggles.

As any form of communication outside of the EMP projector fence is jammed, letting unit 20001 know of their concrete plans would have to wait until another secure meeting could be formed, without raising suspicions as much as possible.

In fact, the very operation of the EMP projector had an immediate impact on the Underline system, so though the content of the meeting would be unknown, the disturbance in the system would in itself be an alert as to where they were as a giant hole in the City's surveillance capabilities was being created.

"We are secured' Misaka # 13577 says in order to begin this meeting. 'We shall start with discussion of Phase one."

Without needing to glance at each other, two of the Misaka clones knew it was their turn to report.

"Infiltration is successful and integration into the environment is at 32%' Misaka #10032 approximates"

"Um…Infiltration is also successful and integration is at…4%...' Misaka Kate—uh, no—#1909-"

"Less than 10% integration rate?' Misaka #10777 displays worry at #19090's progress"

"M-misaka is finding difficulty to transition into the school because of its very inclusive social structure!' Kate says with frustration at being made a celebrity!"

"And why Kate?' Misaka #13577 says after observing the chosen given name"

"Well, th-this magazine said…"

"Indeed.' Misaka #10039 says once noticing this discrepancy. 'It does not follow the template set by Onee-sama with #10032' Misaka explains her conclusions."

"As it was an act of desperation on Onee-sama's part, enforcement of such a template seems arbitrary.' Misaka #14458 states her position."

"And besides, for some reason #10032 has been advancing far too much in comparison to the rest of us.' Misaka #10744 adds with some envy."

The Sisters glanced at the brunette who had received a heart-shaped necklace and was even acknowledged as Misaka Jun by a certain spiky-haired teen. Not to mention that she was staying at his apartment as a part of her mission.

"#10744 makes a startling observation' Misaka #13577 says upon seeing such an unfair situation. 'Perhaps it would only be right if a rotation of assignment was instituted' Misaka #13577 suggests while signing herself up as next in line."

"Denied.' Misaka #10032 uses her delegated authority from the Administrator. 'In addition to being the eldest Sister as well as the winner of 'Rock-Paper-Scissors' this Misaka has several legitimate claims to enjoy her given role."

"So as the loser of all of her matches, #19090 is considered to have the least desirable role?' Misaka #14458 says in an attempt to find a fault in #10032's logic."

"But Ka-er, Misaka #19090 really don't mind being with Onee-sama!' Misaka #19090 says to stunt the idea that being with Onee-sama is undesirable!"

"Can we finish the report so we can go to sleep now?' Misaka #10339 says with a sigh as fatigue has begun affecting her patience."

"Agreed; as Phase one is continuing on schedule, priority is now placed toward the success of Phase two before Phase three can begin' Misaka #10032 says to continue the meeting"

"Phase two is also currently underway, as about 58% of installation is complete.' Misaka #13577 reveals the status of progress of the other Sisters."

"Understood' Misaka #10032 nods and earnestly tries to fight feelings of uncertainty"

Hopefully they would manage to set up the [FIREWALL] system in time…

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>

- Sequel to "Sister Act!", it's not necessary reading but I'll be making references to it.

- All characters belong to Kazama Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura as author and illustrator, respectively.


	3. Without options or alternatives

**Part 1**

Kamijou Touma is one who wakes up early.

On school days when his cell phone alarm works, he wakes up early to not only begin cooking a large breakfast but also to start on homework that he should have finished a week ago, if not at least last night.

He had since given up his bed to the small light-haired girl in order to get a good night's sleep, whenever he had time to get back to his apartment dorm, that is.

In any case, the spiky-haired teen had even had to relinquish the floor as of yesterday, not because someone else had claimed it, but simply, as a growing teenager, Touma couldn't handle being in the room with two girls.

So, unwrapping himself from his spare sleeping bag, Touma stood up with a stretch of his arms and legs, and glanced at the counter immediately in front of him.

In short, he had slept on the kitchen floor last night.

Though there was a perfectly ergonomic bathtub that provided spinal support if he managed to find the perfect position, there was no guarantee that Touma wouldn't find himself in some predicament if one of the girls decided to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Just one such previous case involving himself and Index was enough.

With a yawn, Touma opened and inspected the inside of the cabinets and refrigerator.

Luckily, there were a great number of sales at a lot of grocery stores going on today, and having a few additional hands would help him take advantage of the multitude of food for sale that would surely be up for grabs.

Unfortunately that was not going to help with the current situation where at the moment the food that was left would have to be rationed until after school when they would have a week's worth of food.

Of course, that's a calculation assuming that he only had to cook and feed himself and Index.

Their newest roommate would obviously strain their resources a bit, but Touma believed deeply that that was only a temporary situation.

Surely, Misaka's sister would find somewhere else to live. Maybe even with Ms. Tsukiyomi if he managed to guilt her enough? There was only so long the teacher could hold out from taking in another boarder.

Taking a step back with a carton of eggs and a variety of other foods in hand, Touma's eyes went wide when he suddenly slipped but quickly recovered, dropping his wares onto the counter in a quick motion before losing his footing entirely in the impenetrable darkness of the kitchen.

"Gh…" He bit back the urge to yelp in pain in order to spare the still-sleeping girls from a rude awakening.

"May Misaka suggest you turn the lights on to prevent further self-inflicted injury?' Misaka offers while flicking the switch to the 'on' position."

Illumination revealed the mess of Touma wrapped within the sleeping bag like prey caught in a boa constrictor's ever tightening grip.

"Are you alright?' Misaka asks while covering her mouth to hold in her laughter."

"Such misfortune…" Touma sighed and pulled himself out from his entanglement.

Clearing the floor of any other potential hazards, he set out the food and proper cooking tools to begin making breakfast.

Organizing the carton of eggs, a plastic box of grape tomatoes, green and yellow peppers and salt and pepper on the counter, Touma moved swiftly to place a frying pan onto the stove and set the heat.

"Now while I prepare the other ingredients I want you to crack and scramble the eggs." Putting a large plastic bowl onto the counter in front of where she stood, Touma took a metal whisk and slipped the handle into her hand. "If you could do all of those eggs, that'd really help."

"But Misaka has never…"

"Oh come on, it really isn't that hard." Touma, stepping away from his other prep work, moved toward the short haired brunette.

To her surprise she found herself between him and the counter.

"Now you just have to grasp the first egg, ok?"

Pressed into from behind, the Misaka clone felt his hands over top hers as she was guided to pick up an egg. Her face felt warm; though not as much as the boy felt standing closely behind her.

She had since forgotten all about the impromptu cooking lesson as within her mind she realized that she had been spamming the entire Network to the annoyance of the Sisters.

Finally, she felt his warm breath brush against the back of her neck, causing the Level 5's clone to spark at the sudden strange feeling almost as though a cold chill had shot through her whole body.

Realizing what she had done, Misaka Jun spun in place with the worried prospect that she had hurt Touma with a stray static bolt.

The spiky-haired boy turned around from where he was standing in front of the stove, his hand on a pair of chopsticks as he skillfully skimmed the egg yolk that was accompanied with colorful vegetables while the other held the handle of the pan, leaning it side to side to let the yolk run where he wanted.

"Hmmm? Oh, its ok I got the rest. Why don't you just sit at the table and I'll have breakfast ready in a bit."

The brown eyed girl sighed and nodded, seeing that she had zoned out and went completely through the motions as Touma….saw…fit…

Her face warmed up again and she let out a heavy sigh to jog herself to breathe.

"Touma! Touma! Is the food ready yet?" Index, who had apparently woken up, skipped delightfully toward the table before the woozy-feeling Misaka girl managed to take a seat.

Dressed not in her nun's habit but a green pair of pajamas, the silver haired girl smiled ecstatically toward Misaka Jun sitting across from her as though she were a part of this morning for more than just a day.

"Yeah, yeah, it's finished." Touma called out.

With a large serving plate he walked toward the table with a colorful display of omelet as he stepped out of the kitchen.

As it had been a precaution to clear the kitchen space of any hazards so as not to endanger himself or Misaka Jun while cooking, Touma had unfortunately tossed his spare sleeping bag onto the floor between the living room and kitchen area.

As such…

"Oh!" Misaka Jun gasped.

"The food!" Index professed her concern for the large amount of omelet heading for the floor.

His feet, caught in the entanglement of the sleeping bag, pressed into the floor like a sprint runner would and pushed off with all their might, plate still held tightly in his hands.

Reaching his right hand to paddle forward on the floor, Touma would make any baseball fan scream in joy as he caught the wayward pop-fly breakfast.

He reluctantly wore a wide grin while putting the plate onto the table. "I guess…that was a lucky break, huh?"

* * *

><p><strong>Part 2<strong>

Kamijou Touma and Misaka Jun were walking side-by-side down the sidewalk.

As it was an inevitable fate for Kamijou Touma, a string of manga-like circumstances and numerous misunderstandings took place at school that day.

Ranging from Misaka Jun suddenly appearing before him to ask if she had put on her bloomers on correctly, to failing a the other day's quiz because he had accidentally skipped a problem and answered the rest of the questions out of order, to being given an overabundance of convenience store food from Himegami Aisa that had actually recently expired, Touma felt burdened by these kinds of things happening to him often.

Such a sentiment wasn't felt by Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Aogami Pierce, who berated him with their counter complaints and limited physical abuse such as pokes and arm punches.

School had since ended and they were now walking back from food shopping, effectively ending the surplus in allowance that Touma had managed to save for emergency situations.

The two were shopping again since a certain nun's eating habits were completely underestimated, while Misaka Jun's (temporary) joining had completely upset Touma's budget calculus.

Misaka Jun was walking to his right with a bag in each of her hands, while Touma carried three bags in his left and a single bag in his right, since the bags swung about in reaction to their arm movement. So by carrying the fragile eggs freely, nothing would break the carton while they walked.

The two had managed to navigate through the pedestrian crowds easy enough, as the wide roads and public transportation available in Academy City made car traffic a near non-existent factor in traveling between the districts.

'_This corner looks awfully familiar…'_ Touma thought as dread crept in the closer the two came toward the end of the building on their right.

An anxious looking brunette came into view.

"Oh, Onee-sama…' Misaka attempts to wave but the weight of the grocery bags prevents her from doing so."

Resting against the wall, Mikoto hesitated after she took a step forward, with her hand formed into a fist tightly clenched as though ready to lash out in a premeditated manner.

Obviously the girl didn't expect a Sister to not only be present during her ambush, but be in the way of her attack.

The middle school student stumbled back as her spiky-haired target came into view, on the other side of her Sister.

It wouldn't have been the first time for her to find the teen with a Sister, especially this particular Sister who was adorned with a heart-shaped necklace atop her blue school uniform.

Furrowing her eyebrows, realization turned Mikoto's fluster into irritation aimed at the strangeness of this situation.

The crinkling and ruffling of the plastic bags was not too surprising as she knew Touma to live in a dorm by himself.

At the same time, it was strange to see him have so many groceries at one time that surely he couldn't be having for himself since there was so much fresh produce in many of the bags, and he was supposed to be a "poor student" as well.

Though not completely farfetched since she couldn't know his entire living situation, the second strange thing noticed about this strange meeting was when Mikoto's eyes settled on the blue uniform that was obviously not Tokiwadai standard.

"Why are you wearing that?" Mikoto asked in the same tone a parent would her daughter going down the stairs on a Friday night.

All eyes settled on the predominantly blue winter uniform with traces of white, which looked like a high school uniform unlike the shorter skirt and tan colored jacket pair of Tokiwadai, which was a middle school.

"Misaka is currently attending his school' Misaka says to quickly address your concern.

Mikoto turned her attention to the "his" in question.

Kamijou Touma was a high schooler.

Being a clone of her, the Sister was grown to be technically her age, at least superficially. So in that regard, saying that she was "attending his school" meant that the Sister, who was technically a middle school student, was "attending a high school".

The Sisters' ages were no more than a few years up to this point, so the only way for clones to have gained so much knowledge in such a short span of time was in the active use of Testament machines, that by sending out electrical signals into the brain, could input a large amount of information in a short period of time and affects all five senses of the body.

Using the Testament, information such as speech, logic, motor functions as well as the personality and emotions of the subject can be installed.

Of course, the nuances and inconsistencies of society were something to be desired in Testament's power to upload large quantities of information into the artificially grown Sisters, but then it couldn't be much of a stretch for the clones to have a wider depth of knowledge, as far as high school or even collegiate level intelligence.

"Oh…I see…" Mikoto paused, coming up with this explanation as a mix of envy and a feeling of depreciation coursed through her.

Being able to attend school with him, a co-ed high school with fewer expectations than an institution like Tokiwadai and thus more free time for socializing was allowed of students…

A touch of red began to grow from her cheeks to the rest of her face as she continued talking

"Then…it's going to be a long walk back for you to the hospital…you know, if you're going to help him with his groceries…so…why don't I help and you go ba-"

"There is no need for that since Misaka is currently living in his residence, Onee-sama' Misaka reveals with both embarrassment and excitement at the fact."

"Agh!" Touma took a step back when such an announcement was so boldly stated.

"I don't understand…" Mikoto said quietly. "...since he's a boy and you're a girl, surely, as even an idiot like him would understand, he wouldn't simply let a girl stay to live with him…"

"…Misaka simply pressed the issue and was quickly allowed to stay with him.' Misaka explains the superiority of her direct tactics to Onee-sama's indirect onces.

Partially relieved that Index's stay at his apartment wasn't revealed, Touma scrambled to take immediate disaster control of such a terrible public relations fiasco.

"N-n-now, Biri-Biri, you see…the way she said it is a _lot _different than what really happened…I mean, it's _kind _of right, but, there's a _lot _of subtlety as to what happened…"

"Oh…_really_….so…_that's_ what's going on, huh…?" Mikoto quietly seethed with her head facing down, as sharp crackles filled the air with blue streaks of electricity flowing through the girl's fringe.

'_Being able to socialize during school…living together in the dorm room…sharing dinners…going out to shop for groceries…!_'

"Hey, I can totally explain this, I mean, it's not like she said anything about the same room, and it could be that she's just in the same building, right? So…let's all settle down and tal…"

"G-get away from my sister you…you…LECHER!"

"What the heck!" Touma called out miserably as the bag of eggs he dropped began to fill with the yellow of yolk.

This sort of tragedy immediately happened after he used his right hand to block the electric attack that had shot out at him.

With an increasing growl, Mikoto gritted her teeth and took heavy steps toward the still retreating Touma. "Don't worry. I'm not going to fight you today…I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

A second, then third, then a full succession of electric attacks flew at the distraught high school boy as he scrambled to jump away and used his right hand to nullify the ones he couldn't dodge.

"Take care of the food!" Touma dropped the bag of groceries in his left hand and felt lighter and more agile as a result.

"Tsk! COME BACK HERE SO I CAN KILL YOU!" Mikoto took chase and growled when another bolt veered into nothingness once it came into contact with Touma's hand as he disappeared around the corner.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 3<strong>

There was no difficulty in getting away from Amai Ao.

In fact, it would be better to say that it was "too easy".

Nonetheless, she figured that even if her escape was preplanned or at least expected, she might as well take advantage of her false freedom.

Though on one hand there wouldn't be a point trying to move anywhere if she could be picked up at anytime, there was also no sense in waiting around just to be picked up.

If she were picked up in either case, most likely she would go back to that hotel room to sit on the single sized bed, staring at the wall while the messy haired scientist muttered stupidly to himself; waiting for someone else who had yet to arrive so that _something_ could start.

Without any currency on hand, walking was the only recourse to head for the downtown area of the city.

There were free buses from the hotel to a place called "Seventh Mist" but that would be a likelier way to be caught, or at least make it easier to track her actions by that dork of a scientist.

So she walked toward the busier downtown area of the city, where within larger crowds a person had a better chance to move a bit more freely or at least transition into a sparser inhabited area.

Glancing from the shaded alleyway, the sounds of people and vehicles moving in the daytime hours continued to try to draw her out.

When trying to evade capture, it was important for a person to understand their pursuer.

Amai Ao was definitely a person stupid enough to come collect her in such a public fashion, with whoever it was he was with once they met him.

But then again, those same people could have much more common sense and hope she tried to stay in more secluded and isolated places like the alleyway right now.

The girl whose brown hair reached to the middle of her back gave a sigh while contemplating this cost-benefit situation.

Finally, curiosity got the better of her, so the girl decided to wander about the crowded streets of Academy City while learning more about her surroundings.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 4<strong>

Kamijou Touma huffed as he deftly moved through the crowd.

Though he was one to never bring innocent bystanders in danger, he hid amongst other people because of his opponent, the Level 5 Misaka Mikoto. It was more instinct than a strategy.

In the wild, an animal must either be able to fight or take flight.

Since there was neither food, water, territory, nor young to fight over Touma chose to take flight.

When taking flight, an animal had to have a means to escape from a predator whether that was the ability to fly, swim, dig or run exceptionally fast.

Touma could neither fly nor swim nor dig nor run exceptionally fast.

So unable to simply escape a predator, an animal had to be able to evade capture.

In any case, hiding in a crowd was the best way to escape when in a city, and at this point he managed to find a spot to rest outside of the busy pedestrian traffic just next to a building where there were less people.

Going against his better judgment, the teen looked back over his shoulder to see if he was still being pursued, but then stumbled as he ran into someone in front of him.

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't looking where I was…"

He glanced at the person and felt a bit more embarrassment as the passersby glanced at him in disapproval for knocking down a young girl.

"Here, let me help you u-"

Touma offered out his hand but it was slapped away immediately.

As he was leaning slightly backwards in preparation to pick the person up, Touma lost his balance and stumbled until he tripped on an unnoticed soda can and fell back down onto the sidewalk with a wince.

Only someone as misfortunate as him could trip on litter in a city where garbage-picking robots existed.

Shocked at the girl's actions, Touma felt like he shrunk in size when the girl got to her feet on her own. After brushing off her clothes, she shot him a mean scowl and pout letting out a very audible "hmph" and crossed her arms.

"I don't need any help from _you_, stupid." The long haired girl announced in a most haughty way.

The girl, whose long brunette hair swayed as she adjusted herself, had features that more than simply resembled a certain Level 5 ESPer that had just vowed to kill him a few moments ago.

Rubbing his eyes, Touma doubted that Misaka Mikoto had an older sister. That is, unless one would mistakenly count Misaka Misuzu who was actually Mikoto's mother.

The girl standing in front of him was taller than the middle school ESPer but still shorter than him, with finer definitions of her face. If it weren't for the semi-permanent looking scowl causing her eyebrows to furrow and lips to downwardly arch she would be a very enticing high school beauty, at least in Touma's opinion.

"Wait… do I know you from somewhere?"

"Tsk" The long haired brunette eyed him as though to say "Whatever."

Letting out a sharp sigh, she brushed back her hair with a flick of her wrist and placed her hands on her hips. She leered at him with a slight frown.

Before saying any further the girl turned to leave, but a hand clasped onto her wrist, preventing her from doing so.

Her eyes widened as the hedgehog-headed boy immediately crossed into her personal space with a deep glare before backing away with a smile.

"Oh, so you _are_ a Sister…for a second I thought you were Mikoto pretending to be one of the Misaka clones, haha. You could have fooled me since you're without your goggles!"

A sudden chill jolted up Touma's spine when a pair of furious brown eyes bore upwards at him.

"I can't believe that you're even more of an idiot than I thought…" The girl 'hmph-ed' and pulled her arm out of his left hand's grasp. "I don't know who this Misaka is or what clones you're even talking about, or who _you _are. And how did you know my name, anyway?"

"And the way you're talking isn't the same…wait, what?"

Tilting his head in wonder at the girl who was clearly related to Misaka Mikoto, Touma didn't know what to make of what she had just said.

Was this a new game the Sisters were playing?

"…" Touma tried to recall if there was anything that could have spawned such a strange and off-kilter game that only a network of 10,000 Sisters would find enjoyable.

"I know that I said that 'there was only one of you in the whole world' way back when, but I didn't mean that none of your other Sisters existed. I meant that all of you are your own person."

"I answered your question, so don't be such a loser by ignoring mine." She sent a disapproving glare at his persistence and took a step backward to create distance between them. "I better not see you around again or else you're going to be in a _world_ of hurt!"

"Now now, you really ought to stop saying that. It would be a lot easier if you just…oh, hey, could you tell me what's going on here?"

Far from enthused by the idea of dragging her all the way to his apartment to speak with the Sister with the heart necklace, Touma was relieved to see a girl with goggles on her head approach them.

As she came closer, it was obvious that she was the same one who was staying at his apartment as the second loafer, Misaka Jun.

"We were wondering where you had gone since you ran off' Misaka uses such an excuse to get closer."

The short haired brunette, who wore the faintest of smiles on her face, took no further step forward when she noticed the person with Touma.

In fact she took a step backward, as though reeling from a skunk that had just crossed her path

* * *

><p><strong>Part 5<strong>

"Target has been found' Misaka exclaims with anxiety!"

"Target'?" Peering from behind a tripod mounted camera, Kuroko saw her model rush off of the pile of pillows and out the dormitory door, not caring to change out of the "Desert Princess" costume composed of satin garments and brightly colored silk scarves.

"Hey, wait!"

Shocked that her model had suddenly hurried out after she waited so long for her roommate to leave her alone with the younger Misaka, the twin-tailed girl seethed in a futile hissy fit before recollecting her thoughts and calming herself down.

There was no way that Mikoto would forgive Kuroko for taking advantage of her sister by pretending she need a model for photography class, a subject that she wasn't even taking that semester.

Using the dorm room as a makeshift photo studio, Kuroko went through the arduous task of moving the equipment such as lights and stands as well as a set from the previous semester's school production of "Arabian Nights", such as the nighttime balcony backdrop and dozens of pillows and a stuffed tiger, all taken from the theatre club after a few favors such as errands and even bribery in some cases.

Not wanting to be found out, Kuroko even went so far as to rearrange the room's furniture on her own so there was enough space for the entire set to fit.

If anything, the anger would be a lot worse if the younger Misaka was caught wearing that costume because such a messed up plan was in progress, rather than catch the end product of pictures of a photo shoot that had already happened.

In other words, it was better to hide what was going on by chasing after the younger Misaka rather than suffer another bout in the hospital.

Taking care to turn the camera off, Kuroko rushed out of the room, not teleporting since she didn't want her neck broken should she be caught by the dorm mistress.

Bounding out of the door to begin her search, Kuroko gasped at the body of a brightly clothed younger Misaka on the floor, facedown and unmoving.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 6<strong>

"How did you manage to get into the city?' Misaka asks while retrieving reconnaissance data from the extra-City Network to confirm the information."

"Haa?" glancing at the Sister, the long-haired brunette girl looked disturbed but calm when she saw the girl in front of her. "I flew into Academy City with that dork the other day on an airplane, how else?"

Misaka Jun did not respond but only stared as though trying to read the long-haired girl's mind.

Losing interest in trying to have her own questions answered, the long-haired girl turned toward the alleyway she had emerged from and quickly disappeared around the corner while Misaka Jun kept a close tail.

Not wanting to lose track of the Sister, Touma felt he had no choice but to follow after her, warily finding himself away more and more from the earshot of other pedestrians or even from any security cameras that were normally posted to keep vandalism to a minimum.

"…You're isolated from the network…? Please follow the protocol and state your model number' Misaka says while trying to ascertain your identity. This Misaka is Misaka #10032"

While all of this was going on, Touma was surprised that the Sisters weren't getting along to such an extent.

'_So even Sisters can fight like this?'_ He thought back to the time in the underground plaza when Mikoto, Misaka 10032 and Last Order were squabbling over different reasons with him stuck in the middle of it all.

Before him wasn't a sort of sibling squabble but an antagonistic exchange between potential "enemies".

"Jeez! You just won't quit will you!" Stopping, the long-haired girl spun around to confront Misaka Jun once more, walking close to her until they were face to face.

"I don't care if you _do _look a bit like me, I _already_ told this stupid idiot over there that I was the only Misa…" as though distracted her focus trailed off and her eyes suddenly glossed over, like an audience participant at a hypnotism show.

Her arms, which had been flailing about in an energetic fashion while she spoke, fell to her sides limply.

The angry scowl that seemed to be her defining characteristic thus far disappeared and was replaced with a blank stare.

It was a complete change of personality from the girl who was just blustering about like a rebellious daughter yelling at her parents for wanting to control how she acted and dressed.

Even the sharp breaths that acted like punctuation to her sour way of speaking was quieted into slow even paced breathing.

If anything, this Sister became more similar with the Sister with the heart-shaped necklace, but at the same time looked even less like a person as the girl continued to stare ahead with her back as rigid and straight like a robot's.

{SEARCHING FOR ENTRY MODEL 10032

MODEL 10032 RECOGNIZED.

MODEL 00000 ACCESSING PROGRAM.

INITIATING PRELOADED TROJAN PROGRAM.

PREPARING PROGRAM UPLOAD

FORCED DIRECT CONNECT TO MODEL 20001 ATTEMPTED.

ATTEMPT FAILED.

DIRECT CONNECT SUSPENDED

INDIRECT CONNECT TO MODEL 20001 INITIATING.

FORCED ACQUISITION OF NEARBY MODEL 10032 INITIATED}

"You're Model…? Gh!" The Sister seemed tried to step back from the girl in front of her but froze in place, and held her own head as though a terrible sound was being heard by only her.

Writhing to and fro, 10032 suddenly dropped her hands and stood normally. "…If so…Misaka…must…"

As he could only see her back from where he stood, Touma thought that she had managed to recover from whatever pain she just had, while the Sister turned to face him, opening and closing her lips and looking at him as though trying to say something.

Despite standing so close to each other, whatever she was saying did not reach Touma's ears.

The Sister wearing a heart necklace then suddenly fell toward the ground, her eyes rolling up visibly to Touma as though her very soul was suddenly drained from her body.

Rushing to catch her before she hit the ground, Touma stumbled at the awkward manner that she fell into his arms as his legs were not immediately steady to hold himself up.

"Mi…saka…? Hey, Misaka's sister? Jun! What's wrong!" Turning her over so she was face up in his arms, Touma stayed in a low crouch as he inspected the Sister who seemed to have developed fever-like symptoms in mere moments.

Her eyes, barely focused, tiredly looked up at the teen holding her in his arms.

"You called me…Jun…heheh…" she smiled then slowly closed her eyelids.

A heavy shudder of guilt draped over his shoulders from such a sight.

His teeth clenched tight as he laid her down gently on the ground before standing up, his face hidden by his messy bangs all the while.

'_What's going on here?_'

'_Is it an attack that can affect me too, or…?_'

'_Why would she do that to her own…?_'

'…_I should've done something…_' '…..'

'_Is she really a Sister?_'

'…_Is it because of my hand that I'm not hurt?_'

'_What was Jun trying to tell me?_'

'…..'

'**Is Jun going to…?'**

Such thoughts raced through his mind and overlapped in multiple voices before he finally opened his mouth.

He tried to scream out but hesitated once he laid eyes on the supposed perpetrator.

There was something happening, but Touma felt helpless as to what he could do.

There was no clear person or thing to fight and destroy the illusions of.

Before him stood neither a maniacal villain, nor a tortured person who sought vengeance for a wrong they needed to right.

He wasn't sure how he should act, because he wasn't even sure what was going on.

The girl known as Misaka Jun had suddenly blacked out, while the girl with long brunette hair was frozen in place, like Kazakiri Hyouka when she was bound as an angel while Vent of the Front invaded Academy City and endangered innocent civilians.

In fact he saw a thin trail of red streaming from her ear, troubling Touma even more so as before him stood a girl who simply stared blankly ahead, unaware of the pain she was causing not only to the other girl but even herself.

There was definitely something bad happening to these two Sisters.

"…H-hey, wait…stop it! You're hurting yourself too!"

Touma rushed forward but stopped just short of grabbing her.

The image of Kazakiri Hyouka flashed in his mind again, reminding him of the potential unintended consequences of using his Imagine Breaker without knowing the direct cause.

Still, seeing blood dripping from the girl's ears and nose, Touma gritted his teeth thought back to how she managed to slap his hand away when he tried to grab her wrist. "Whoever did this to you…I'll definitely kick his ass…"

Grasping her shoulders, he yelled out "You hear me! I won't stop till the person responsible for doing this to you realizes that you're not just experiment!" controlling himself all he could so he didn't simply shake her and worsen her condition.

As his hands touched her small shoulders, a sudden chill ran through his body, like wind quickly deflating before him.

It was immediate, like turning a thick piece of glass into sand just by tapping at it. Surely it was a familiar feeling that something had lost its form and only his right hand had the power to do such a thing.

Like the Sister before her, this Misaka clone lost any sort of the rigid posture she just had and nearly collapsed to the ground, if it weren't for Touma ready to catch her, holding her waist and leading her gently with less effort as he was more prepared this time.

Her breathing, so calm before as to seem silent, was loud and labored. Displaying the same feverish conditions as the other Misaka, Touma could only frown at the sad sight as movement caught his attention from behind him.

"Jun! Let me help you up!"

"There's no need…my…Misa…ka's…functions are all returning to normal…' Misaka says while trying to assuage your concerns."

The girl with a heart necklace propped herself to a comfortable sitting position rather than try to fake an immediate full recovery by jumping to her feet.

It was only rational that that would lead to potential stumbling and only stress the teenager even more.

"We must get her to your apartment' Misaka…urges before promising to explain the situation later."

"No way. That can wait after we get to the hospital and have the both of you checked out first!"

"There's no time!" She grasped at his uniform as tightly as her weakened grip could, stumbling slightly with a tired pant. Still unable to feel any strength in her leg muscles, the girl drew closer to him and leaned her weight into him using his frame as support.

"Jun…?"

"Please…help Misaka protect her…"

* * *

><p><strong>Part 7<strong>

In a Tokiwadai dorm room, there is a girl lying on a bed.

Though sleeping, she suddenly speaks out.

"Understood; Administrator's emergency procedure has been suspended. Returning to normal functions after limited maintenance checks are completed' Misaka says upon receiving #10032's report."

Opening her eyes, she sits up from under several layers of sheets of her original's bed. Misaka 19090 now also known as "Misaka Kate" took this moment to regain her bearings.

She was in the Tokiwadai dorm room that her Onee-sama and her roommate, Shirai Kuroko was living in.

It had taken some time and practice, but Misaka Kate had managed to persuade Mikoto to share her bed at night until the school delivered a bunk bed for their special situation.

Glancing at herself, she saw that she was still dressed in the exotic stage silk stage dress before the whole affair had begun, last remembering being in the hallway before blacking out.

Being the only one in the room, the girl let out a heavy sigh.

As they were so close to doing so what seemed like moments ago, the girl known as Misaka Kate was sure that the other clones, if not before, were now thinking what it would be if…

* * *

><p><strong>Between the Lines 2<strong>

"…the kitty was very soft.

"Now in international news; we all know of the protests and riots erupting in cities like Washington, D.C. and Avignon, France, but here's Samantha Carter with something quite surprising."

"It's definitely surprising indeed, Sean. Right now I'm in Tokyo, Japan but believe it or not the church I am currently standing in front of is not only slated to be the largest Christian building in the region, it is also only two square miles away from Academy City, the world's foremost center for scientific achievement and discovery. In the distance you can see the large walls that surround all of Academy City.

"Originally called the 'Church of Orsola', named so after a missionary who had traveled extensively in Asia to spread Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church has decided to restart construction on what will be Japan's largest church of any Western denomination, at the approximate size of a baseball stadium and can easily hold more than 250 people.

"In the middle of its original construction period, extensive fire damage and general acts of vandalism had prevented the beautiful building you see now from opening for services, of course, because of the costs cited for repairs on both the interior and exterior of the church. The Church is formed by seven chapels where every single chapel is planned as a place to carry out one of the Seven Sacraments.

"As recently as two months ago, the Vatican revealed that it had been in the process of repairing the damage and completing the church's construction and would be finished in as soon as two to three weeks from today. Bishop Sebastian Bennett, the Vatican liaison for the project as well as head of the Tokyo diocese has stated that the church will be renamed the 'Redeemer of Sins Church' for unspecified reasons. The project, which was originally scheduled to take up to a few years to complete is now very much ahead of its schedule thanks to technological innovation and help from an American construction company, Lyndon & Cyrna, which is owned by Kihara International, a worldwide conglomerate based in New York City and part owner of our news program.

"Strange as it may sound, with tensions as high as they've ever been in the world, the irony isn't lost on anyone when it's a well known fact that Kihara International is one of many global partners of, and is involved in a number of projects with, Academy City.

"What this revelation means for the tense relations between the Vatican and Academy City now is still up for debate.

"This is Samantha Carter, reporting live from Tokyo, Japan."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>

So we're into chapter 2 of the story, and starting to get to some meatier aspects of what I've been planning. In my head of course, everything is all "OH WOW! HOW ORIGINAL EVERYONE'S GOING TO LOVE THAT!" but then again, you never know, haha!

Some things are made to be painfully obvious and predictable while others I'm sure are still letting questions from previous chapters hang around.

Though I doubt I'll get the amount of reviews that my heroes on this site are getting, I swell with an addictive pride from the traffic of unique hits and repeat visitors so far. It'll probably be a bit longer until the next chapter is posted, because of the Spring semester ending as well as general story organization. I'll keep posting nonetheless, thanks for the story updates and favs so far as well!

- All characters belong to Kazama Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura as author and illustrator, respectively.

- References made to:"A Certain Pair of Goggles" by Blanket of Rain

- Thanks to fellow To Aru Majutsu no Index writers for inspiring me with drive to continue whenever I hit a wall.


	4. Challenge from unexpected events

**Part 1**

In order to open the door to his dorm apartment, Kamijou Touma had to gently place the girl in his arms onto the ground, sitting upright and leaning against the wall.

Unable to call ahead, as his cell phone battery was somehow damaged—possibly during the fray with Misaka Mikoto—Touma now had to personally check if his roommate was still in or gallivanting around the city in search of food, fun and food.

Not necessarily in that order.

The fatigued but otherwise uninjured short-haired Sister, also known as Misaka Jun, stayed close to the other girl as Touma unlocked and pushed open the door.

That was when he found himself in foreign occupied territory.

It was by sheer luck that he wasn't still carrying the unconscious long haired Sister in his arms, as when he stepped into his dormitory room there were four girls awaiting his arrival.

Standing in the middle of the apartment dorm was a maid, a nun, a teacher and a shrine priestess.

Touma was afraid of the punch line.

"What's…going on?"

"Since Misaka Jun didn't have a place of residence, I thought that she'd be able to stay with Himegami instead of here with you and your Sister…friend…" The teacher said while standing on the right of the formation.

Index took no notice of this ambiguous statement as she seemed more focused as the middle of this eclectic gathering in Touma's apartment.

"Ok…" the teen conceded with a sigh. "That explains why Aisa is here, but not you, Komoe."

"Ah!" the small woman squeaked "e-even if we're not in school you should still call on your teacher in the proper manner, Mr. Kamijou!"

'_That doesn't answer my question at all!_' Touma sighed.

"Let me explain!" The maid standing in the left of the formation stepped forward with her demure chest puffed out.

"Since apparently Misaka's sister decided to moved in here, Index and I have been going over the state of affairs…"

"No that's not right; I've been trying to get her to live elsewhere..."

"...and it seems that the only way to stop your womanizing ways from getting any further out of hand is to reveal ourselves."

"Right!" The silver haired nun pumped her fist into the air as though at a political rally.

"My '_what_'? Reveal '_what_'?"

"You see,"

"We're the…"

"Convention of Sisters!" "Sister League!"

Maika broke out of the symmetrical pose that she and Index had been doing and stomped her foot.

"What? I've been telling you since our _first_ meeting, Index, we're the _Sister League_!"

Index spun to face Maika beside her.

"_Eh_! But I thought your saying 'just do anything you want' our last meeting meant that you agreed to be part of the Convention of Sisters!"

"Don't you understand what sarcasm is? Maa…" the maid shook her head and placed her hands on her hips.

"EH? SISTERS? Then why did you call me here? I'm not a sister!" the pink haired teacher exclaimed at this revelation.

"That may be," Maika continued in a boastful voice, "but you give off the _feeling_ of a sister, and you also bring balance to the rest of our group, Ms. Tsukiyomi!"

"Oh…" the pink haired teacher seemed to come to terms with this explanation. Looking between the other members of this ad hoc group though, Komoe quickly noticed more than just the heights of the girls on either side of her was similar. "EH? Hey!"

"This is the first I've heard about you guys being part of a group…" the tallest of the four frowned from behind the three other girls.

"It never really came up, sorry!"

"Maika! We're the Convention of Sisters since I'm the only 'Sister' here, so…that means I get to choose!"

"What do you think _I _am then?"

"A _step_-sister, which isn't a real si-"

"Tsk…IT'S IN THE NAME, ISN'T IT?"

"You know…I'm not a sister or a Sister, so…"

"Does it have to be the literal definition of 'sister'? How about if it was more like, how 'all girls are part of a Sisterhood'?"

"Fine! You're sister-_like_, Komoe! Also _**I**_ came up with the idea to create a **League** not a _Convention_, Index, and if we use such a broad meaning Aisa, then we don't stand a _chance_ against Misaka's sister at all!"

"CONVENTION! OF! SISTERS!"

"But I'm not a…"

"Can't you just…"

It seemed that Tsuchimikado Maika, as the self-appointed leader of the rabble of girls, now found herself beset on all sides by the others disgruntled by her decisions.

While all this was happening, Touma hung his head in reaction to this state of affairs of what his life had become.

"Such…misfortune…" he sighed.

Peering into the apartment from overhearing the confrontation, Misaka Jun had a thought.

"…" The girl, jumping at this opportunity, stepped closer to the now depressed teenager.

"There, there' Misaka says while comforting you with three head pats."

"Oi! Short-hair's sister! What do you think you're doing?" Index hollered over the other girls, thus sending all eyes onto the Sister.

"Geh! It's Mikoto's sister?" Maika quickly rushed toward the brunette, looking over the girl wearing the blue high school uniform. "…wait…you look like her, but you're not Kate though, are you?"

Before the Sister could respond, Maika's eyes turn over toward the unconscious long-haired girl sitting on the ground outside of the room.

"Whoa!" She screamed out, attracting the other girls to her side.

Effectively pushed out of the apartment at this point, Touma sought more space just outside of the group of girls now gathered at the entryway.

"Let's get her to a bed! Help me get her inside!" Maika yelled, putting in effort along with Komoe to move the unconscious girl into the apartment.

"Uh…my apartment's over here…" Touma offered his opinion, getting two sets of glares in return.

"Of course." Maika offered a polite smile. "But I'd be damned to hand her over to _you_, you know…"

The girls all huddled into a defensive formation and moved as one away from the spiky-headed teen.

As they came close to the apartment next over the door opened as a blond, sunglasses-wearing teen stepped out.

"Hey Maika, you forgot your handcuffs for that thing you and the girls wanted to do to Kami-yan…Oh! Who's this?" He exclaimed upon seeing his step-sister and teacher carry in the unconscious girl.

"Move it!" the diminutive maid barked out and the girls including Misaka Jun who was dragged by the group, disappeared into the Tsuchimikado apartment.

The boys glanced at each other, both feeling the coldness that came from being shunned.

"…you wanna talk this over at your place, nya?"

"Sure…"

* * *

><p><strong>Part 2<strong>

Wearing his trademark mischievous smile, Tsuchimikado Motoharu took a seat on the bed further into the apartment.

Closing the door behind him, Touma doubted that this particular Tsuchimikado really needed to be briefed on anything that happened to him. Considering how the blond more likely than not knew everything that was happening in and outside of Academy City, Science or Magic related.

Despite being a Level 0 idiot of the "Delta Force" like Touma, Tsuchimikado was also a magician and member of the English Puritan group Necessarius. Of course, he was also a part of any number of groups in addition, of which Touma couldn't really bother to fathom.

Whether it involved varying factions that sought to sneak into Academy City or knowing troublesome actions taking place in Europe, the blond teen knew such things and more.

Nonetheless Touma decided to explain to him the exact events of the confrontation from how he bumped into the Sister to how Misaka Jun fainted after the long-haired Sister spoke in code.

Touma decided to leave out the part where Misaka Jun was living with him and Index and the altercation between him and Misaka Mikoto just before he ran into the long-haired Sister.

It was a fortunate but mildly disturbing thought to realize that he already knew about the Sisters, prompting questions in Touma's mind like always whenever such events happened just how much detail Tsuchimikado was privy to but kept to himself unless it directly involved him in some way.

Letting out a loud sigh, Touma flopped listlessly onto the floor near the bed, turning his head over on its side without fear of seeming rude.

The blond haired spy amongst spies adjusted his position atop the bed.

"So do you know anything about that long-haired Sister?"

"Oh, taking the initiative during our talks, Kami-yan? In any case, it seems you got yourself stuck into quite a jam!"

"Tell me about it…"

"Well, I normally would if I weren't already on a mission."

"You're on a mission?" Touma asked, forgetting for a moment his question.

Hearing this he sat up properly and looked at the other teen.

Touma could never know exactly who the sunglasses-wearing teen was working for at any given time.

"Yeah, yeah…" the teen smiled. "Since we're such good friends, I feel like treating you by saying that it actually has to do with your recent addition to your harem, nya!"

"Tsk, I don't have a…"

As the walls between the apartments were thin, the two teens sitting in silence could easily hear the continuing bickering going on next door.

"_Now spill it, short-hair's sister! Have you been eating my food while I was out?"_

"_Index…that's not what we're interrogating her for…"_

"_We shouldn't be interrogating her at all! Sister, please stop bullying my student!"_

"_I don't like how this girl also has long hair…maybe our characters will overlap…?"_

"So back to your question," Tsuchimikado's tone turned serious, trying to get Touma's utmost attention back now.

But after hearing this, Touma couldn't finish his rebuttal once he thought about it.

Next door was a group of girls, all of whom he was acquainted with, who had formed a sort of coalition against his supposed womanizing ways.

He complained about being beaten up by girls all the time, but now that he thought about it…that wasn't normal to be always surrounded by girls, was it?

"Gh! Am…am I one of those whiny oblivious main characters they have on anime now!"

Despite his realization, he still couldn't admit out loud what that group of girls was to him.

He dropped his head into his hands and tried to shake off the thought as though it were dirty water in his hair.

"No, you're just misfortunate. Besides, why would you think _you're_ the main character of anything, Kami-yan?" Tsuchimikado said passive-aggressively.

"That's true…"

There was no way in hell he would admit to Touma about his situation.

Even if he had Maika, Tsuchimikado was still a teen full of fantasies and wishes.

While it would seem like a good idea in order to end his and other guys' frustrations of envy, there was a sort of poetry about mistaking heaven for hell.

Even more so, helping Touma get over his obliviousness would not only hurt on a personal level, but such an action would also probably end an era.

"That girl you found had a protection spell around her that prevents detection."

Touma's thoughts we're steered back after the involvement of magic was mentioned.

"From what I could tell when she passed by me, the traces leftover are similar to the spell 'Chaos and Calm on the Surface', the one Oriana Thompson used."

Oriana Thompson, a formidable magician in her own right, was someone who was able to fight evenly with Touma, Tsuchimikado and Styl Magnus as her opponents.

A magical courier who was an expert at running and hiding hired by Lidovia Lorenzetti when she attempted to use the Croce de Pietro to place Academy City under the Vatican's—the head of the Roman Catholic Church—control.

"It's possible that Index might've noticed it too, but I think my erasing was pretty good when Maika and Komoe brought the girl into my apartment. But also because of that, we won't be able to find where the source of the spell is."

"That's okay." Touma sighed at their loss of a great lead.

It was Tsuchimikado after all who managed to track Oriana's movements, known in the Magical World as "Route Distrub" during the Daihasei sports festival.

"But not being able to be detected…she was plenty noticeable to me." Touma responded with a frown when he remembered the girl's strangeness even amongst the other Sisters. "And unlike Oriana, who snuck in amidst the Daihasei crowd, this Sister said she flew in by plane."

"Being noticed and being detected are two different things, nya." Tsuchimikado said easily. "Think of it as this, Kami-yan. You're walking within a crowd, let's take the Daihasei for example, and you're able to spot someone suspicious. However, when they disappear into the crowd, you forget that you ever saw any suspicious people.

"Now take that same crowd situation, and you're looking for someone. Even if knew what they looked like, what they wore or even how they walked, if you had an overhead view of the crowd and as much time needed to review the security tapes or lots of other people looking out for the same person, you won't be able to find that person unless they were acting out and attracting attention to themselves.

"So unlike Oriana's spell, that let her presence stay anonymous to anyone who saw or met her, or in other words keep her from being noticed, this spell was strictly made to avoid surveillance, or in other words, keep from being detected."

Touma thought about the different scenarios and the different needs that were particular of using the spell.

Oriana didn't want to seem to be out of place during the Daihasei, but no one was actually pursuing her so simply not being noticed was a spell that was efficient for her plan.

The Sister was being pursued, so the spell was aimed at hiding her and keeping her from being found by anyone after her, so not being detected by any means was important.

"Up until you put your hand on her shoulder, she didn't appear on any cameras and I'd bet she couldn't even be sensed by any sort of detection magic. So with that in mind, one could say that she still snuck in 'through the front' since she couldn't be detected. Similar to how Oriana did.

"The main clue is that while Oriana had the benefit of anonymity while she looked like she was sneaking the Croce de Pietro through Academy City, the Sister was either aware or whoever put the spell on the Sister knew that she would be looked for."

"But that doesn't make sense. As a Sister, she's part of the Science side already, isn't she? Why would she be using magic to sneak into Academy City? Since Academy City is comprised of ESPers and others part of the Science Side. Instead wouldn't it have to be some sort of technology that avoids satellite or other electronic detection?"

"That's exactly what I've been trying to figure out myself."

The blond spy leaned back onto his chair with his arm resting on the top of the backrest. "I've confirmed that the spell is one that is controlled remotely, but the question is _who_ was controlling it.

Like Oriana's spell, which Touma had dispersed when he came into contact with her, the Sister's spell that prevented her detection was also destroyed by his right hand. Oriana, who specialized in escaping her pursuers, had set up a number of spells remotely throughout Academy City during the Daihasei festival.

"At the same time, there so far doesn't seem to be anything amiss with the Sisters that are currently in Academy City. They were affected by the confrontation to be sure, but they're all accounted for."

Touma's mind went back to how the Sister with the heart necklace, 10032—no, _Jun_, had suddenly collapsed after the other Sister seemed to speak in code.

"Zero!"

"Hmm?" Tsuchimikado raised his eyebrow.

"When she acted more like a Sister, I remember her mention 10032, and that's one of the Misaka clone serial numberes, but just after that the long-haired Sister started speaking in code, like a computer…uh…I think I remember hearing her also say 'one'….'zero'…a 'two' I think? Uh, that's all I can remember…"

"That's some pretty useless information, Kami-yan…"

"Shut up."

"Well like I already said, Academy City has already been in the process of checking on all of the Sisters that have been sent all over the world. So far there haven't been any traceable signs of funny business going on, but if that girl is in fact a Sister that's gone rogue, then it's important to figure out what her Model name is.

"Ironically, even with as advanced as Academy City is, it's going to take some time since the many institutions around the world where the other Sisters were sent aren't as high tech.

"There are also other ways to check, like waiting for her to wake up or even taking her in and probing her mind to find it manually. Of course, the clone could always turn hostile again when she wakes up or there might be some sort of security protocol waiting for someone to delve into her head."

Touma tightened his fists at the thought of subjecting anyone to such means, even if it just meant hooking up to a Testament.

It was something that Tsuchimikado easily noticed but didn't show that he did.

"Still the first question that has to be answered is why as a Sister, she had magic cast on her without any damaging effects for so long."

"…" Touma didn't know either.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 3<strong>

"As it is now, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with Last Order. Nor have there been any signs of damage amongst the Network."

The Frog faced doctor, without needing to refer to his clipboard, provided his diagnosis with the utmost concern.

A girl wearing a blue camisole and a large men's shirt overtop sat on the examination bed without saying a word. The antenna-like strand that stuck out from her short brown hair-which reached down to her shoulders—seemed to droop as though to reflect her mood.

Last Order, who normally had boundless amounts of energy to run around and because of it create a multitude of disturbances, had been tense and quiet since the whole affair began.

As Administrator to the Misaka Network, Last Order was at a loss as how to effectively juggle so many of the different things that were happening.

It was important to finish building the [FIREWALL] before the rogue Sister showed up, but now that she had seamlessly snuck into Academy City, it would be difficult to continue construction while they would also be targets.

Protecting the Original and the Savior, while not directly a part of their assigned mission, was decided upon for two reasons.

The first was to keep the two of them out of harm's way, since they had often put themselves into danger for the Sisters' sake without hesitation.

The second was hypocritical of the first reason. Afraid that they wouldn't be able to succeed, the Sisters decided to stay close to the two people that would best be able to help them.

It was a decision that not even the Administrator of the Misaka Network could prevent from being enacted.

The Sisters themselves decided on such a plan, even going so far as to hold a private meeting without Last Order to prevent the details from being leaked through to the higher echelons of Academy City.

So far they had been allowed to do as they wished, as long as they continued to finish up the [FIREWALL] around Academy City.

Investigation into the large church complex being finished outside of Academy City was also important, but second to the plans to build the four towers that made [FIREWALL].

Still, the most pressing matter currently on Last Order's mind was Full Tuning, also known as Misaka 00000, appearing and being able to sneak into Academy City as well as confront Misaka 10032.

If it wasn't for Last Order issuing [WITHDRAW] to the Network, Full Tuning's sophisticated attack may have immediately succeeded in not only hijacking 10032 but remotely placing a virus into Last Order which would affect the rest of the 10,000 Sisters all over the world.

Why was their eldest Sister doing such a thing?

"I'm still checking on the state of the Network myself, but I have to agree."

A woman in a white researcher's coat, despite haven not worked as a researcher for a while now, offered her supporting opinion.

"It's obvious we're dealing with someone who knows how the Misaka Network operates, but without any discernable leads, there's nothing we can do but try to lessen our vulnerabilities as much as possible. Look at the nature of the attack, create counters to the specific behaviors of the program and try to start work on a vaccine should that not work.

"What I'm worried most about is not knowing whether it's an attack aimed at 'him' or Academy City itself through Last Order."

The frog faced doctor resisted the urge to frown at what the woman determined and did agree with her concerns, while he brushed the young girl's hair into a slight mess with his hand in an effort to cheer her up.

It had a limited effect, succeeding in getting a sheepish smile from the small girl but thoughts that Accelerator would be affected by people going after the Sisters or her continued to dampen her spirits.

As a doctor, it was always a difficult feeling to know of his patients' suffering, whether he was able to do something about it or not made no difference.

"I can think of a few people or groups who'd do it. Though it's another thing entirely when trying to think who _can_ do it..." muttered Yoshikawa Kikyou. Her hands that were previously in the pockets of her white lab coat were now crossed under her chest.

She sighed. "…especially doing something as untraceable as this."

Yoshikawa was referring to the attempt to attack Last Order through a backdoor in the Misaka Network, which didn't seem to have been initiated by breaking into the network from the outside, but either mimicking or even trying to take control of a Sister's protocols to initiate a malicious upload.

Like a cancer, such a tactic was surely meant to spread by replicating and mutating the program in each Sister to travel throughout the Network until the code reached its target address.

"If it weren't for the program suddenly halting, the [WITHDRAW] order would have fully spread throughout the Network. Even if it was meant for such cases, how it would affect…"

"I'm sure he's fine. He's been through so much, and is putting himself through even worse where he is now. Though the people residing in it may suffer from malnutrition from the castle raising its drawbridges and closing its doors during a siege, the Sisters wouldn't have let anything detrimental to happen. There are several backdoors left on purpose for that reason.

"Of course I wouldn't doubt that he was affected by the trouble that such a protective measure caused, but surely he'll be doing something about it in his own way." The frog-faced doctor said toward both people in his office.

Though a comforting statement for them, such an image of Academy City's strongest ESPer sallying forth as a single person worth an army to break an invading force would make even unaffiliated bystanders become filled with dread any sympathy toward the poor invading force.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 4<strong>

In a secret facility inside Academy City, an organization called GROUP has met.

It is one of many organizations that operate under the control of the Board of Directors who lead and manage all of Academy City.

GROUP of course, as such an organization kept in the dark side of Academy City, took on missions that could not be acknowledged by those living in the light.

Despite this, the main people who were a part of GROUP sought to protect those in the light by working in the dark.

The facility that GROUP operated from was not only stacked with the most up-to-date technologies that Academy City itself produced, but the members of GROUP and the organization that supported it were privy to know things that only those of the dark side of the city dealt with.

There was a vehicle bay, an armory, a shooting range, a technical lab and even an inclusive medial office.

Though only the size of a small private doctor's office, the medical service provided inside the secret facility was good if not better than most other government or premium services. Not only were regular health concerns addressed in this office, but emergency aid, rehabilitation and specialized treatment of ESPers as well.

What could be found in this office was precisely what one could find at any other. A digital weight scale with an extendable arm attached to measure height, a single chair in addition to the examination bed where the patient would often be and several implements like medicines and tongue suppressers and bandages and healing creams.

The room smelled very much like cleaning products.

Three people were currently inside the office when a technician finished his diagnostic and left.

"It seems the worst has passed."

The one who called himself Unabara Mitsuki, while wearing his face and acted in a manner similar to a student whose identity he was copying, noted without any real concern in his voice.

"If you think about it, I believe this exact situation is your anathema, Accelerator. Hopefully the higher ups don't think of you as a racehorse that has broken its leg."

Adding a smile to that, Unabara earned only the usual scowl as far as Accelerator was concerned.

The meaning behind such a comparison was not lost on Accelerator, who had to walk around using a modern-looking cane.

As someone dependant on the Misaka Network to substitute for the language and calculating processes that his damaged brain was now unable to do, such an attack no matter what the reason was ultimately a personal vendetta aimed at Accelerator.

Just hours ago when he was in the firing range practicing with his pistol, the highest ranked Level 5 suddenly fell to the ground when he lost connection with the Misaka Network. Unable to move in such a state, he was found by members of GROUP's supporting organization and quickly taken to the medical office.

However, before the check up was performed, Accelerator was reconnected to the Network. Thus, instead of a doctor, a technician was summoned to look over the electrode collar that allowed Accelerator to make use of the Misaka Network to find nothing wrong with its functions.

"Screw that shit."

Accelerator, who was sitting on the medical room's examination bed spat out.

"The hell I'm staying in this shithole any longer."

"Pft, and what are you going to do when you find the ones responsible? Drool out a wet slick for them to slip on and fall? You just want a whole gang of cripples, don't you?"

With even less concern for the other ESPer, the twin tailed Musujime Awaki crossed her legs while sitting in a chair across from the two boys.

Wearing a pink crop top and short pleaded skirt and the jacket of her Kirigaoka Girl's school uniform over her shoulders in a cape-like manner, the girl leered with an amused smirk at Accelerator's troubles.

The schadenfreude was obvious and the red-eyed ESPer hated it.

"Shut up, bitch."

"Ha! Hobble over here and say that to my face, why don't ya!" An even toothier grin appeared on her face.

"Sounds to me like you're dead set for another tour of the city _skyline_!" the white haired ESPer shouted out.

Musujime's toothy smile immediately turned sour and disappeared. She could only grit her teeth as the massage machine connected to the nape of her neck began its effort to lessen her anxiety-based stress from remembering their fight.

"Now, now…" Unabara pretended to play the part of the referee. It was impossible to tell whether he was enjoying the banter between the two ESPers or not.

"Tch…" Taking a breath and calming down somewhat, Accelerator stared angrily at the wall in front of him. "…who'd be stupid enough to go after me using the Sisters, anyway? Those shits definitely don't know who they're dealing with."

"And I'd say that you're definitely right, Accelerator!"

A wide-grinning blond teen wearing a pair of sunglasses stepped into the room, needing only a glance around to find the rest of GROUP waiting since he went to do some errands.

Pushing the door out until it was fully open Tsuchimikado Motoharu flashed the other three an even bigger smile.

"Good news. My source got me some great leads and the higher ups agreed with my report about it, too."

"I'm surprised that you managed to do so much so quickly, Tsuchimikado." The disguised magician commented with barely hidden interest.

"Yeah well, I've been compiling the report since before Accelerator fainted, and it just so happened that I finished it up."

"So they were that eager about reading a report? How lame as always…" Musujime scoffed and re-crossed her legs as she adjusted her posture.

Stepping off the examination bed, a soft clack from the modern-looking cane followed the white-haired teen's eager step forward.

"What are we waiting around for then, huh?" Accelerator displayed his own toothy grin. Rather than happiness, his smile seemed to send out a murderous aura at his senior's news.

"What an antsy Accelerator!" Tsuchimikado happily poked fun at his comrade. Opening the door further, he looked at his cell phone just as a text message was received.

"Just waiting for the Field Trip permission slips!"

* * *

><p><strong>Between the Lines 3<strong>

"Congratulations on being selected for the Tokiwadai Director's Board, Galen!"

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Unabara. It means a lot coming from you."

"Ohohoho, charming just like your father." The woman chortled in a ladylike manner.

Amidst the party of twenty or so formally dressed well-to-do people, a young man in his mid 20s raised his champagne glass and nodded his head toward the older woman before him.

They were all within a single ballroom of the Unabara home, which was spacious enough to have seven separate round tables, a five person dais and even a quartet of violinists sitting to the side and filling room with the ambiance of the instruments' call.

The young man, who insisted on being called by his first name rather than his family name, kept his true feelings in check while he thanked the woman again for such a compliment and moved his attention to the other guests who sought out his attention and thanked each one in turn.

Most were other guests present that were older than him, but despite this they still were very deferential toward him and his status as the one being celebrated that night.

"Galen, you're coming to the Tokiwadai Board's Party as well, are you not? I'm sure it wouldn't be lively without you there." A heavyset man chuckled amorously. He was also a member of the Board.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." The man named Galen responded with a smile.

From amongst the crowd of well-wishers, a dark haired SP wearing a dark suit approached the young man with a cell phone covered by his hand.

Excusing himself from the band of three people around him, the young man combed his fingers through his hair and met with the SP away from the busily chattering party-goers.

"Unless it's Ao I don't-"

"It…_is_ him, sir…" the man confirmed Galen's previous instructions.

After pinching the bridge of his nose, Galen sighed.

"…Fine. Give me that."

Snatching the cell phone from the SP, the now sour-faced young man strolled toward the balcony and away from the loud chattering and music of the party. He closed the glass doors before putting the phone to his ear.

"I told you to call me only if either the experiment was finished or if there was bad news. Unfortunately I am fully aware that you weren't scheduled to be finished for another few days and it's obvious by your track record that you're not known to complete projects _ahead_ of schedule, Ao…so don't bullshit me. What went wrong?"

For a moment nothing was said. If he had planned to make up a story, the young man's words had made him hesitate.

"…I…I lost her…"

"Tsk…"

The man could only sigh. Glancing behind himself, he checked to see if he was noticed standing away from the party. He wasn't.

"I'm going to skip the part where I pretend I still think you're a competent human being. Instead, I'll just jump to the part where I ask 'how do you lose a girl when she's tagged like a frickin house cat?'!"

"The logs said she came across a Sister so her GPS tag was turned off so resources could be diverted to automatically upload the Trojan virus to the Misaka Network, but it never turned back on when I lost her bio-readings."

"Automa-_AUTOMATIC!_? You set her to _automatically_ upload when I told you SPECIFICALLY to do it _manually, _and only AFTER you get the go ahead! What the hell happened to calling first like I told you to?"

"I tried to call when she came across the Sister but you didn't pick up! I thought it was the perfect time to-"

"Well there's the problem, huh? You thought! Sure you got some great ideas like creating the Sisters but other than that I don't pay you to think, Ao! _Thinking_ made you bankrupt. _Thinking_ left you dumped on the street by Academy City. _Thinking_ got you shot in the chest!

"I have dozens of researchers and scientists perfectly capable of doing both our share of thinking and that's whenever I feel it's a bit too fast and simple to have the COMPUTERS do that SAME. EXACT. THINKING!"

The voice on the other line could barely hold back its frustration "…If you were here you'd know…"

"I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS ABOUT YOUR EXCUSES! You're in Academy City again to make up for that glorious fuck up you did the _first _time you tried to infect the Sisters! Remember that? Well I'm through with giving you chances, ok?

"You find the girl before I get there and we'll negotiate if you'll be sent out of Academy City in a body bag or not, much less continue wasting my time and money with your petty revenge schemes! You do what you promised to do, which was uploading some lines of mal-code into the Sisters and I guaranteed to pay you for it. You don't, and _you_ pay for it, guaranteed. Simple, right?"

"…"

"Good. Now do your fucking job."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Chapter 3 all up in here! Thank you for making it this far in! A few things have happened in this chapter alone, huh? While explaining some things, even more questions have popped up, huh?

Yeah, I personally love it when stories do that but please lend me your opinion as well. So now that we've seen the reactions of a few characters about what happened in chapter 2, let's see how Mikoto reacted...in chapter 4!

- All characters belong to Kazama Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura as author and illustrator, respectively.

- Thanks to fellow To Aru Majutsu no Index writers for inspiring me with drive to continue whenever I hit a wall.


	5. A growing bond and trust issues

**Part 1**

Returning to the Tokiwadai dormitory after losing sight of Kamijou Touma, Mikoto felt frustrated beyond belief.

He escaped into the city crowd where she was most assuredly prevented from using her powers to attack him, no matter how much confidence she had in being able to control her abilities. What's more, the Sister that had been accompanying him managed to disappear as well, probably knowing where to find him.

Mikoto tried to call Touma's cell phone strangely enough, but he hadn't yet answered nor did she manage to leave a message, getting only a "this number is unavailable" instead.

It may have seemed that he wasn't as stupid as she hoped.

"The nerve of that guy!" she huffed.

While Tokiwadai comprised of a single middle school, the girls who attended had the choice of living in one of two dorms. One of those dorms was within the School Garden, where each of the elite schools was and men were prohibited to go into, and another in the general Academy City area in District 7.

Walking through the front door of the entryway, she was too focused on her thoughts to notice the uniformed girls' glances at her open soliloquy. "What is he thinking, letting that Sister of mine hang so close to him?"

Thinking back to the short-haired brunette called a Sister, a clone based off of her DNA map, Mikoto clenched her fists while barely keeping control of the electricity that ached to be let loose on an unfortunate vending machine.

Misaka 10032, now apparently known as Misaka Jun as a result of Mikoto's haphazard attempt to keep her roommate Shirai Kuroko unawares of the Sisters a few weeks ago, had the gall to start attending _his_ high school and even live near _him_, wherever that was.

"How does she even know where he lives, anyway?"

The other brunette also looked quite charming in the dark navy blue and white trimmed girl's high school uniform. Mature even, despite her small build, as the uniform was well fitted and the hem of the skirt was slightly longer than Tokiwadai's winter uniform skirt.

Since they were more or less indistinguishable from each other, save for the military-grade goggles or specifically 10032's necklace, Mikoto wondered if she would also look the same wearing that uniform…

"Oh, Mikoto!" someone's voice called her out of her thoughts.

Looking to where the voice came from, Mikoto saw two girls approaching her; a smiling bespectacled blonde walking quite closely with a girl with long black hair.

"How've you been?" the blonde, who was actually the Student Body President, Hitomi Aika, asked sincerely.

"I'm good, Ms. Aika, and you?"

"I'm very good, thank you for asking, Ms. Misaka."

This sort of exchange, which was practically a scripted dialogue for all Tokiwadai students to use whenever seeing each other whether they were familiar with each other or not, was refreshingly sincere.

It would have felt even friendlier if it wasn't for the dour-faced Asanuma standing next to Hitomi. Very close in fact, and every so often she would look around then return a cautious glance at her as though Mikoto was about to steal away the President at any moment.

It was hard for Mikoto to miss, as subtle as it was, to see Hitomi's hand gently holding and caressing Asanuma's hand in a tender way. It was harder still to hide the slight blush Mikoto felt coming on when she saw the more open display of affection between the two girls than she last remembered.

The blonde girl cheerfully announced the news to her, "You've been invited to the Tokiwadai Board's Formal Ball."

"Eh?" Mikoto's attention was directed again toward the President's face.

It wasn't too surprising that as an important figure as the third Level 5; as one of Tokiwadai's two ESPers and considered the "Ace" of the school, it would surely be an annual objective for the administrators and teachers to have her attend the Formal.

The only thing was there was nothing more boring in her opinion than going to those stuffy formal engagements that many of the rich found so appealing. In fact she had been invited to attend a number of times already, though usually arriving in her mail.

This would be the first time that it was hand delivered, and by the Student Council President, no less.

"Alright, now open your hands."

Mikoto, unable to hold back a smile, did as was requested.

The student body president handed her not one but four invitations.

"I know that you don't really have a choice, so I thought it would be better if you could go with your friends too."

"Thanks." Mikoto felt a swell in her chest at the thought, which easily deflated from Asanuma's stare.

There was a sudden vibration and a soft croaking sound that came from Mikoto's skirt pocket. Embarrassed, she quickly reached for her cell phone—a green Gekota-shaped device—and pressed her thumb to silence it when she felt unnerved for a moment. While it wasn't rare to feel that way whenever she spotted Kuroko's name on the message I.D., it felt different.

Maybe it was the anxiety stemming from not being able to fight with Touma…no…there was no way Touma even deserved to be pondered about.

Instead it was a sort of ominous feeling like when one noticed a group of delinquents surrounding someone who you just hoped dearly that the poor victim wasn't someone you knew.

Giving into her intuition, Mikoto flipped open her cell phone and read what Kuroko had sent.

Staying silent for the short moment that she read the text, Mikoto felt a cold bead of sweat run down her nape and left the student council president and Asanuma without a word.

* * *

><p>Mikoto rushed back to her dorm room with a worried look.<p>

Spotting the girl sitting comfortably in her bed, the still panting brunette made a small dash for a closer inspection, not even bothered to close the door behind her.

"What happened? Where are you hurt? Are you ok? Did Kuroko attack you?" Mikoto asked without pause, just as the twin-tailed roommate of Academy City's third Level 5 arrived as well.

As a strictly enforced rule, students of Tokiwadai Middle School were prohibited from using their powers in the dorm.

As she and her roommate were already in the proverbial "dog house" with the Dorm Mistress because of the incident that left a large hole in the side of their room and a hospitalized Kuroko, it would be more trouble than it was worth for Kuroko to really tire herself even more teleporting back to the room when she already pushed herself to clear out her "photo studio" just before taking care of Misaka Kate.

"Kuroko! Why did you leave her alone?" Mikoto quickly exclaimed when she heard the other girl close the door.

Blinking, she slouched realizing what she had just said.

"You didn't respond when I called or texted you, Onee-sama, so I went looking for you."

'_She called me?_' Mikoto glanced at the call log and saw at least four registries of Kuroko calling within a span of five minutes at least half an hour ago.

'_That must have been just after I chased…_'

"Luckily I passed by the President and Asanuma downstairs who told me you suddenly rushed off when they were talking to you."

"Oh…" Mikoto thought back to how rude it must have seen to suddenly do that to Hitomi and Asanuma. She would have to find them again and apologize. Sending a text or just calling wouldn't be enough for something like that.

After hearing as believable an edited version of events as Kuroko could offer, Mikoto tiredly took a seat at the foot of her bed.

"Onee-sama…?"

Letting out a sigh, Mikoto brushed her hand through her hair.

The fact that Misaka Kate had fainted inexplicably and she received the invitation couldn't be a coincidence. Considering how Mikoto managed to destroy part of the dormitory and had only received a reprimand from the Dorm Mistress was a bit too lenient to be honest.

Mikoto thought over the reason why this was so.

It was one thing for an underclassman like Kuroko to manage to share a room with an upperclassman, not to mention Tokiwadai's Railgun, (considering of course, Kuroko's more or less "underhanded" way of managing to push out Mikoto's previous roommate) it was another thing entirely to allow _three_ students share a room, even when two of them were "siblings" like Mikoto and "Kate" was.

Very questionable in fact, since Tokiwadai was the very same kind of institution that was able to reject royalty from attending. It should have been an obvious sign when the Dorm Mistress or even the Chairman apparently had no say in their special rooming situation.

So getting an invitation while they had previously been sent to her mom all the other times meant that Misaka Kate was brought to Mikoto to be a weak point.

But then again, using the Sister as a bargaining chip in order to get Mikoto to attend the Formal was just that kind of thing she should have expected from Academy City.

She was tricked into volunteering her DNA map to Academy City, after all.

Her cell phone digitally croaked and alerted her to a received message. In the confusion that stemmed from reading Kuroko's text Mikoto had apparently forgotten to silence her phone.

[Is Kate alrite?]

The words of Saten Ruiko's text were processed by Mikoto's jumbled mind who was still trying to unscramble her mind.

[Yea…just fine. Thnks 4 askn.]

Mikoto responded and closed her Gekota cell phone.

"Onee-sama, there is no need for such worry,' Misaka tries to say with assurance while feeling embarrassment from the attention."

"Well what do you expect a sister to do, huh? I can't believe you're trying to tell me not to worry." Half mindedly scratching her chin, Mikoto glanced away with a blush in response to the other girl's own reddening. "You're saying I'm not responsible?"

"Of course not, Onee-sama." Kuroko stated as though it were a universally known fact.

While Kuroko could be maddeningly insane in her provocations and unwanted advances, Mikoto found that the twin-tailed girl had from time to time great moments of sincerity. If it weren't for those rare occurrences there would've been no way Mikoto would tolerate the crazed teleporter, the Student Body President be damned.

"So…you're feeling better, right?"

"Yes, much better.' Misaka says while feeling embarrassed by the level of concern placed on her by Onee-sama."

Watching the two brunettes attempt to out-embarrass the other, Kuroko swooned and took a step forward to jump into the fray when she noticed something white in the corner of her eye. Casting a glance toward Mikoto's skirt, she spotted a small envelope poking out from the skirt pocket that was embossed with gold and looked formally stylized.

The twin-tailed girl smirked as she let curiosity take control of her hand and she snagged the fancy document out of her roommate's skirt pocket.

Mikoto meanwhile was entirely consumed with talking with her Sister when she heard the ruffling of paper behind her.

Immediately spinning around, Mikoto gaped with wide eyes as the smaller girl had the Formal invitation in her hands.

"H-hey, don't just grab that Kuro-"

"Onee-sama…" Kuroko began while looking as she revealed the several tickets that had accompanied Mikoto's invitation.

"What is it…Kuroko…?" Mikoto's eyes widened as Kuroko began to inspect the tickets in her hand. With slow steps, Mikoto tried her best in her effort to grab the tickets, since simply frying Kuroko and the tickets along with her was out of the question.

There happened to be a Current Detector installed into the ceiling next to the smoke alarm since the last time Mikoto had decided to dispatch the teleporting pervert of a roommate. Random bursts of electrical current would be hard to come by in a Tokiwadai dorm, which meant that Mikoto's powers would obviously be the sole source of such a phenomenon.

"So…are you going…?"

Mikoto thought about what the potential effects of her not going were this time.

Should she try to discuss this with her?

No.

That was a nonstarter.

The last thing Mikoto wanted was to let Kuroko know who exactly her "sister" was, the girl who had a fainting spell and was currently sitting quietly in her bed.

There was no way Mikoto would let her know about the Sisters or the Level 6 project.

"…probably…" quietly surmised to the surprising approval of Kuroko.

"Onee-sama!" the twin-tailed girl beamed. "I'm so _happy_ that you've begun to have an interest in activities benefitting a lady!"

"Geez, it's really not that big a deal…"

"But it is quite a deal, Onee-sama!" Kuroko tut-tutted and glanced at the ticket again. "Not only is it a formal gala, but it is also tonight! I am also certain that you don't have any such clothes to wear to it!"

"How do you know that?"

"I'll have to call Saten and Uiharu…" Taking out her stylishly small cell phone, Kuroko pulled out a transparent screen from the device and scrolled through the list of contacts to find the other girls' entries.

"Eh? Why do you have to call Saten and Uiharu?" Mikoto asked with a blink.

"Are you saying you're against seeing your _friends_?"

"What? No…it's just that…well…"

"Not only can you get a wider set of opinions than if you just went with me (considering your childish sense of fashion) but it will also make it harder for you to run away with extra sets of eyes. Besides, there's nothing more exciting for friends to do than to shop with a purpose in mind."

"I don't like how you snuck in that comment about me running away in there…"

"Forgetting that, Onee-sama, in order to make things more time efficient…" Revealing a sterner look, Kuroko drew closer to Mikoto. "I'll take your measurements ahead of time!"

"Geh! Get your hands away from there, stupid!" Smacking at the smaller girl's attempt to reach under her skirt, Mikoto jumped backwards a step so Kuroko couldn't get another glance at her shorts.

"Maa, Onee-sama, I can't believe you're embarrassed from just _that_ unless…unless…"

Dramatic piano music played in Kuroko's mind.

"…_unless under those shorts you're not wearing pan_-"

"YOU STUPID GIRL!"

From where she sat, Misaka Kate tilted her head and watched in fascination as she watched Mikoto wrestle and contort Kuroko who moaned and writhed in ecstatic pain.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 2<strong>

"Are you really sure that you want to come along? Why don't you rest a bit more?"

"Misaka is definitely ok! Please let Misaka come along with you!' M-Misaka Kate begs to experience a 'shopping trip' with Onee-sama."

The smallish Sister, showing her eagerness, hopped in an almost childlike manner as though to protest Mikoto's cautiousness as if she were a parent being unfair to Misaka Kate.

The three girls, dressed in the Tokiwadai Middle School uniform, garnered some looks as they continued walking toward their destination. It was a strict policy of the school for students to wear an approved uniform at all times even outside of class.

In particular, the twin short-haired brunettes had attracted a handsome number of other male students who had been leaving their respective cram schools or activities on their way home.

Kuroko most definitely disapproved.

"It's about time you slowpokes showed up!" the cheery long haired Saten Ruiko smirked at the approaching trio of Tokiwadai students.

"Saten, Mikoto was really worried about her sister, you know?"

"'Course, 'course, it was just a joke, Uiharu! Haha!" Saten rubbed the back of her head in response to the flower-headed girl's chastisement. "But still, a last minute shopping trip for a Tokiwadai ball? Why didn't you say earlier, Mikoto?"

The sorts of romantic notions of ladies and nobles dancing swam through Uiharu's head when Saten first received an update text from Mikoto about an hour earlier.

Though the others wouldn't know it, but Uiharu had shrieked with excitement and bothered Saten while waiting to start this shopping event.

Saten looked between the two girls, who despite their immediate physical similarities, looked like completely different people because of the attitude they presented. While Mikoto was the cool, strong-type, the other girl was more demure and girl-like, almost Uiharu-like in a way.

"Uwah, you really do look alike, huh?" Saten exclaimed this nonetheless.

It was to Mikoto's surprise that Saten and Uiharu already knew as much about Misaka Kate as they did.

Of course, it all made much more sense when Kuroko revealed that she had been texting them updates about the revealed "secret Misaka sister" for the last few days.

"Hey there Kate, it's nice to finally meet you! I'm Saten Ruiko." Introducing herself, Saten offered her hand to which Misaka Kate reciprocated.

Following Saten's lead, Uiharu—a girl with flowers in her hair—extended her hand, though with some hesitation from being too forward to the third Tokiwadai student she had ever met.

"Hi and I'm-"

"-and this here's Uiha…RUU!"

"Eh?" Uiharu paused, suddenly feeling a breeze around her thighs.

"Oh, yellow with white polka dots today!"

"S-s-s-**SATEN**!" The flower-topped girl immediately grasped at the floating hem of her skirt and tugged it down, while never retracting her other hand, which was outstretched to greet Misaka Kate's the whole time.

"Wow, a one-handed grab? That's some pretty advanced stuff there, Uiharu!"

"D-don't laugh! You're embarrassing me in front of Misaka's sister!"

"Shall we get going, then?" Kuroko mumbled, somewhat bored of the other girls' usual antics as they paled in comparison to seeing Mikoto in new clothes (or possibly none at all)

* * *

><p><strong>Part 3<strong>

Looking around the racks of the dresses available in Seventh Mist, Saten spotted a bright red dress and eagerly looked over it. Taking it off the hanger, she peered through the inside to look at its tag to read the size and price and maybe even the washing directions for good measure.

She did so, only to learn that she couldn't find any sort of tag.

'Wow, this is a pretty fancy brand, then, huh?'

Holding it up in front of her, Saten figured to give it a try since a fancy dinner party would require a fancy dress. It was the same sort of mindset that Saten had when she thought of very expensive restaurants don't even print the prices for their meals in the menus, as though needing to know it was enough of a red flag that you might not be able to afford it.

"Hey Mikoto, what do ya think of this?"

The red dress that Saten lifted for the others to see swayed slightly before hanging loosely once again.

Looking from the thin spaghetti straps to the bottom hem of the clothing it seemed just long enough to cover one down to mid thigh. It revealed the shoulders and was backless, and a slit at the bottom right side of the dress allowed for more movement as well as revealing much of the thigh.

"EEHH? Saten, no! That's inappropriate for a middle-schooler to wear!" Kazari squealed at such an adult dress with wide eyes and flushed cheeks.

"What are you talking about?" Saten laughed mischievously. Closing the distance between herself and the other girl, she smiled playfully and hung the red dress overtop Uiharu's uniform. "As a Tokiwadai student, she's _obviously_ expected to act more adult-like, right? Oh, surprisingly hot, Uiharu~n!"

Shivering at the image of her reflection, Uiharu's face turned as red as the dress held in front of her. "Q-quit it, Saten!" she whined like a cat being mishandled.

"Come on, come on, don't be like that, Uiharu! You're such a hottie!" Saten sang out in enjoyment over the flower-topped girl's weak struggles.

"I'll have to agree with Uiharu, but for a different reason." Kuroko stated.

This caused a pause to the ruckus that attracted a stink eye from the nearby saleswoman in the next row of racks over.

Sheepishly apologizing, Saten returned the dress to the rack where she found it.

"While I would love to see Onee-sama in such a dress, it happens to be an inappropriate choice for the Tokiwadai's Board party. It's a place where Tokiwadai's Board of Directors appointees and other such administrators simply go on about how marvelous the school and its students are. And I wouldn't be too surprised if any back-room dealings were made during that time.

"Unfortunately," the girl sighed, resting her chin daintily in her hands and looking away wistfully, "it's a _very_ conservative affair."

"Eh? What do you mean by that 'unfortunately', Kuroko?" Uiharu stepped forward, always attracted to learning about the happenings of an "ojou-sama".

Slowly approaching the rack Saten had found the dress, Kuroko picked up the hanger and brushed her hand against the red silk cloth.

"I'd rather Onee-sama wear something like _this_ not for the party but my own personal sho-"

A running punch to the face sent Kuroko flying a few feet away before she could finish.

From the way Kuroko laid on the ground in an unconscious heap, it would probably be a while before she woke up.

Panting heavily, Mikoto returned the stink eye that the saleswoman sent the girls' way before replacing the dress onto the rack, hopefully never to be seen by her again.

"Er…let's go, Uiharu…" Saten pulled the other girl along as they followed the Misaka twins to the formal gowns of the dress section.

* * *

><p>The girls continued their search for a dress for Mikoto to wear—sans Kuroko—cheerily picking up a dress every now and then to show to Mikoto before she politely declined it.<p>

It wasn't until a few dozen dresses had been optioned before Uiharu smiled widely and grabbed the hanger of a gown from the rack right in front of her.

"Oooh, Misaka what about this one?"

Uiharu beamed brightly as she showed it off to the other three, displaying a confidence that her pick was a definitely in the running.

"I…don't know…" Mikoto barely tried to show her reluctance, trying to pick at every excuse simply not to go to the formal. It worked only as long as she didn't glance at her Sister who was also taken in by Uiharu's pick.

"Wow wow, you should totally put it on! I wanna see you wear it, Misaka!" Saten shared Uiharu's enthusiasm for the gown.

In all honesty Mikoto couldn't imagine wearing such a thing, though she had come close to it at a number of Tokiwadai's other formal student gatherings.

"So tell me what you think about it!" Uiharu brought the gown closer to Mikoto, as though she hadn't heard the brunette's hesitation.

"I don't really know…" Mikoto tried to politely refuse with a chuckle.

"Well don't worry! I have a great idea!" Saten suddenly yelled and rushed off back into the aisles and racks of clothes. In a quick moment the raven haired girl reappeared with a blue flower clip and a pair of blue high heeled shoes in her hand and grabbing Kate's wrist with her other hand, Saten dragged the goggle-wearing brunette and the hanger from Uiharu's hands and disappeared behind the dressing room curtain.

After only a few minutes, the girls reemerged.

The Sister, who previously was wearing the standard beige and white Tokiwadai uniform, now donned a blue splendor of a dress.

Like ribbons, the shoulder straps were two inches wide and thinned towards the top portion of the dress, which was partially wrinkled and folded over in the center like a small silk scarf. The middle portion was smooth and hugged Misaka Kate's body as though it were tailored for her, not looking too tight or too loose. The bottom portion was lightly pleated and ended just below the knees.

The goggles that the Sister had adorned were also taken off and the hair clip that she wore similarly to Mikoto on her right side had been replaced by a blue flower clip the same shade as the dress. The blue high heeled shoes gave her a few inches in height, which gave a more appealing look to the calves that were visible below the dress' cut.

Mikoto never imagined that the Sisters could be used in such a way.

"So…is it acceptable?' Misaka asks, unable to determine from simple observation from the mirror.'

Without being prompted to, Misaka Kate twirled slowly to show the whole dress to the other girls, which the several mirrors in the back gave the impression of an elegant dance to Mikoto and Uiharu in the audience of the fashion show.

"Uwaah, so pretty!" Uiharu marveled at how the short-haired brunette made the dress look better than it did on its hook, instead of it bringing out her beauty.

"No need to thank me, it was all thanks to the material I had to work with, after all." Saten grinned at the minimum amount of work she had to put in to accentuate Misaka Kate's—and by extension, Mikoto's—natural beauty. "But I was totally surprised that you were skinnier than Mikoto!" Saten pinched her chin between her index finger and thumb in tactless wonder.

Mikoto blushed and fidgeted, feeling somewhat self conscious of her own body at the moment.

Remembering a traumatic experience when she was discovered to be of different measurements than the other Sisters, the other brunette shivered in trepidation.

"S-sorry' Misaka says while she readies herself for her punishment…"

"Punishment?" Saten found Kate's form of modesty strange as usual.

Predictably enough, Kuroko was supercharged (and conscious again) when she blinked into existence right beside the timid girl.

"LET ME BE THE ONE TO HANDLE GIVING THE PU-"

"DOWN, GIRL!"

Mikoto sent a punch into the teleporter's face, quickly dropping the girl to the floor in a mumbling heap for a second time that day.

* * *

><p>After paying for and receiving the dress that had been gingerly put into a carrying bag that was the same length as it the girls made their way out of the department store.<p>

Saten, as she often would, sighed out and lamented the types of things ladies-in-training like Tokiwadai students were privileged to do.

"I seriously wish I could go to a ball, too."

"Well we didn't get invitations, so we should be happy for Misaka and not let her feel guilty." Uiharu countered her schoolmate's remark.

"Yeah…I'm sorry about that, guys." Mikoto internally squirmed from seeing her friends' disappointment. She clutched her duffel bag where the three other invitations were stashed.

She and Kuroko quickly exchanged glances, though the other girl did not make any comment regarding the invitation tickets. Rather, the teleporter exchanged some conversation with Uiharu about Judgment work, while Saten tried to change the subject to something she knew a lot more about.

It seemed mean and it felt absolutely deceptive, but Mikoto definitely didn't want Saten and Uiharu to go, for their sakes.

To be looked at as accessories to Tokiwadai's Railgun rather than guests was enough to almost make Mikoto tear up her own invitation right then and there.

Of course, there were a number of reasons why the brunette couldn't use such a simple answer. The first thing was the special status the Sister had as her roommate.

Misaka Kate, who was dragged in between Saten and Uiharu to prevent Kuroko from taking a coveted spot, let out the smallest of amused smiles.

The five girls continued on to other parts of Academy City.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 4<strong>

The event started promptly at 6 pm.

The dining hall, which was lit up by several large crystal chandeliers equally spaced from one another, was about a few hundred square feet in size and easily contained the guests, tables, and chairs and allowed more than ample space for walking room.

All around Mikoto were adults, mostly of the older variety, stiffly greeting one another as a string quartet played a piece in the background.

It was everything she dreaded and more.

She picked up a drink from the tray of a waiter passing by, making sure to hold it daintily enough that it matched what the other women were doing to not stand out. While Mikoto preferred not to drink (considering she was also underage), she picked one up in order to prevent anyone from offering her a drink later on.

"Mikoto." Unabara Mitsuki approached her without a shred of hesitation. He held a glass of champagne in each hand and chuckled politely when he saw that Mikoto already had a glass in her hand.

Looking around, he quickly placed the extra glass onto a waiter's tray and walked toward Mikoto again.

"Oh, hi there…Unabara…" Mikoto greeted the boy with an extra effort not to seem unnerved by his appearance. While there was nothing particularly bad about Unabara Mitsuki—he was young, polite, smart, and even Mikoto could admit that he was sort of cute.

It was his personality that she had a problem with. His cheerfulness and naiveté just didn't go well with her.

"You're looking quite beautiful tonight. How've you been?"

Unabara Mitsuki, the grandson of the Chairman of Tokiwadai, wore a polite smile while he failed to hide the intense excitement he had for Mikoto's attendance.

Dressed in a straightforward blue suit and tie and white shirt, it made it quite awkward how well matching he was to Mikoto's dress, making it seem to others looking at them like they were a couple. To Mikoto, it seemed to her as though he followed and learned what color she was wearing.

This was especially disturbing since she had only picked this dress a few hours ago.

"Oh, you know…" Mitsuki began to tell a story about an interesting factoid he learned in school, with Mikoto nodding politely and repeating certain things he said to show she was paying attention.

In reality, Mikoto was more or less in her own thoughts. The last she saw him was when she pretended to be Touma's girlfriend in order to get Mitsuki to stop talking to her. Unfortunately from looking around the hall at that the sort of people who were in attendance it was obvious that he wouldn't be around for her to repeat the tactic, nor would she want to do such a thing with anyone else, really.

She blushed furiously when she remembered their trip to buy hot dogs, as well as what that spiky-haired idiot said that day.

'_Geez! Why am I thinking of __**him**__ of all people right now!'_

Bowing her head slightly, Mikoto tried to hide her reddened cheeks and the heat that was probably emanating from her face by lowering her fringe, awkwardly trying to look casual by taking a sip of her drink in such a way.

"Do my eyes deceive me? Ms. Misaka, you're here too?"

A young girl approached the two, looking over Mikoto with feigned surprise.

Wearing a very familiar red dress, the girl revealed her face from behind the paper fan that she held with a simple yet flamboyant flick of her wrist. Her large forehead and almost as large ego was visible all the while.

"My, my, how suitably welcoming that you're here as well, Ms. Misaka!" Giving a twirl for unseen and nonexistent cameras, Kongou Mitsuko revealed the backless and bottom left slit-design of her dress that seemed awfully similar to one she saw from Seventh Mist.

"I had attended a few of these formals because of my father's friendship with the Chairman of Tokiwadai before but don't remember you ever being here before. Is this your first time here?"

"Well, you see…uh…"

"No, I've tried inviting her a few times but I myself was surprised that she came tonight." Unabara Mitsuki stepped forward and smiled while he answered on Mikoto's behalf.

"Well, no, you see…uh…"

"Mikoto, there you are." Appearing next to the three was a girl wearing a simple green dress, and her long brown hair that was normally in a ponytail was tied into an elaborate looking bun.

"Ryoko? I didn't know you and Miko…uh…Ms. Misaka knew each other!" Mitsuki was the first to greet the girl.

"Yeah, you could say that we have a prior…history, wouldn't you say?" She exchanged glances with the other Tokiwadai student with a sheepish smirk. "Now please excuse me for cutting in, Mitsuki, but…you." She turned her attention to Mikoto. "My uncle would like you to meet someone."

The girl's name was Unabara Ryoko. Her uncle, who was also Mitsuki's grandfather, was the chairman of Tokiwadai Middle School.

Despite a temporary complication near the beginning of the school year, she and the former president Asanuma Reiko have been best friends since elementary school.

Mikoto and Ryoko's past meetings, while complicated as well, were generally amiable since the end of the student body president elections that Hitomi Aika won, as they normally would be between a third and a second year.

Barely hiding his dejection behind a polite smile, Mitsuki nodded his head acknowledging what his second cousin was there to do. "Of course, Ryoko. Anyways, see you around…Mikoto!"

"Ok." Mikoto smiled and nodded politely.

"While you're there, tell the Chairman that the scion of the Kongou family says hello."

"…er, right….will do." Mikoto said as she was escorted to another part of the room by Ryoko.

Making a slight glance backward, the long-haired upperclassman made sure to see if they were out of ear shot before turning forward and smirking. "She's quite an interesting person, that forehead girl."

"Huh? Yeah, I guess…" Mikoto blinked, surprised by how friendly Ryoko was being toward her.

A group of three or four adults were chatting excitedly when she was brought over. The oldest of the four turned immediately toward the girls when he noticed their arrival. "Thank you, Ryoko, why don't you go keep Mitsuki busy?" He said immediately.

"Of course, uncle. Have fun." Ryoko said with a hint of sympathy hidden in her tone toward the second year and seemed somewhat happier to leave to speak with someone closer to her age. Without waiting for her to leave, the older man turned a jovial expression toward Mikoto.

"Ms. Misaka, a pleasure to see you again. How are you finding your classes?"

"Likewise, Chairman Unabara. My classes are fine, thank you for asking." She curtsied politely.

"Galen!" the Chairman excitedly called the youngest-looking of the group's attention toward them. Successful in doing so, the Chairman gestured his hand toward the man.

"Ms. Misaka, let me introduce you to Galen Li-"

"Please, let me stop you right there…" the man interrupted his own introduction with a cordial laugh, "…don't be so formal about it, Chairman Unabara. Ms. Misaka." The young man laughed with slightly colored cheeks. "You see I still find it embarrassing to be addressed by my last name only, so please excuse me. You can call me Galen. It's also hard _not _to know about Tokiwadai's Ace, Misaka Mikoto."

"Well then, it is a pleasure to meet you…Galen." Mikoto curtsied in a ladylike manner. Seeing his outstretched hand, she shook his with a smile. "Congratulations on your appointment."

Although Academy City was overall controlled by a single Board of Directors, the various school districts that comprised the city were each run by a district Directors' Board responsible for the various individual schools within their district.

There technically wasn't a specific Board for Tokiwadai Middle School, but a group of appointed people who represented the school's interests.

Unlike each of the different school districts that had a Board of administrators who looked over all of the school within their district, the School Garden, which was a gated area of 5 elite schools, had its own administrative body, while being within District 7.

Unlike Board seats for each school district which were elected for from a list of approved candidates, all five elite schools solely appoint members of their Board, and rumor has it that not even each school Chairman actually has the final say on membership decisions.

Appointed seats then, were usually offered to people who benefited the school most.

"Ah well, while you two are getting acquainted, I'll get some drinks." The chairman stepped away for a moment and headed toward the tables before being sucked into a conversation with another group of adults.

Galen, who so eagerly wanted to be addressed by his first name, looked to be in his mid to late 20s.

The silvery black suit jacket and pants he wore was an expensive foreign brand, something not readily available in Academy City. His tie was a slightly darker shade, and the white dress shirt looked brighter because of the contrast

Mikoto figured that he had to be well off, since people affiliated with Tokiwadai generally were so.

He flashed his smile a second time.

"Thank you for your congratulations. Your father's name was…hmmmm….I believe Misaka Tabikake, correct?"

"Yes, that's correct." Mikoto couldn't help but feel surprised that he knew her father. While she knew that her father traveled a lot and probably met many people, Mikoto had yet to meet anyone of his contacts or the people he's helped.

"Ah, I definitely owe him a lot. You see, he helped me realize how I could contribute to the world's need some time ago. It's a pretty long story, so I'll spare you the boring details, haha."

"My dad would feel happy about hearing that." Mikoto continued her polite smile, tilting her head just slightly to add to its effect.

Giving a quick glance around, Galen arched an eyebrow before turning back to speak to Mikoto.

"Aren't you here with anyone?"

"No, my friends were busy with prior engagements. I apologize on their behalves."

It was a lie. Mikoto knew that they had actually wanted to be there tonight.

Of course again, she had decided to spare them the boring atmosphere of being at such a gathering.

A man in a black suit, most likely an SP, appeared through the crowd and whispered into Galen's ear.

"Oh, I see." He gave a slight nod. "Excuse me for a moment, Ms. Misaka." Galen smiled and followed after the man through the crowd.

Taking a seat to the table she was ushered to, Mikoto watched as the lights dimmed and a spotlight was directed onto a podium set up on the opposite of the room.

A balding man took the microphone—causing some feedback for a moment as he did so—and began with the opening remarks.

It was the usual sort thanking Tokiwadai and the current Board members as well as the several important guests that were in attendance, each followed by sporadic and polite applause.

"Now let's get to the main highlight for tonight's Formal, shall we? He is involved with the important responsibility of direct contact with outside of Academy City, involving the technologies and systems that we take for granted to slowly make the whole world a better place. He has an outrageously witty man, who has inherited his father's position and led the company as a whole toward great success over the past few years. Please welcome the CEO of Kihara International, Galen Lifeline!"

"Life…line…?"

Mikoto felt hot at hearing that name. Her palms warmed up and her teeth gritted at the thoughts and memories in her mind that were associated with that name.

Standing professionally behind the podium at the center of the dais, Galen took a cursory look around before speaking. "Thank you."

He began to speak, smiling all the while as he described his role and the company's accomplishments to the audience.

Mikoto all the while clenched her teeth.

The man's last name, "Lifeline", sparked a sudden explosion of feelings in Mikoto.

A woman named Therestina, who was the director of the Multi Active Rescue who had the same last name. Presenting herself as someone who wanted to help stop the phenomenon known as "Poltergeist", going so far as to save Uiharu and Haruue during a Poltergeist event, Therestina revealed that she was actually involved with an experiment that left several Child Errors in a permanent coma.

It turned out that the Poltergeists were a result of Kiyama Harumi, a former researcher's attempts to wake them up from their coma.

Therestina meanwhile, who first seemed like she wanted to protect the children from harm and said that there was a better way of saving them, had actually planned to use the children to continue that exact same experiment.

In other words she had tricked Mikoto, using her suspicions against Kiyama who was willing to hurt everyone else to save the kids, to continue that dark and evil experiment.

Mikoto knew too well already what it was like to be lied to, as the DNA she donated and thought to be used to help children was actually for the purpose of creating the Sisters.

Unable to focus on the speech itself, she turned to leave, trying to control her anger as the ballroom was populated with many guests unaffiliated with the whole Poltergeist affair.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 5<strong>

It was relatively dark while Mikoto continued without wanting to attract her leaving, before she found herself outside the ballroom on a balcony.

Mikoto sighed at this error and sighed.

She was too angry to beat herself up over making a silly mistake.

Instead, Mikoto thought again about that name, "Lifeline".

Therestina Lifeline was a woman who endangered not only those Child Errors, but her own friends when they tried to help stopping her.

She had even given Skill Out "Capacity Down", which in itself had caused harm to ESPers as well as herself.

"Ms. Misaka, there you are."

Looking ahead, Galen Lifeline was approaching her with a smile.

Mikoto decided to hold back and began walking away without responding to him.

"Hey, excuse me, are you alright Ms. M-" Sensing the tension but not knowing the reason why, the young man stretched out his hand to pull the younger girl from walking away.

Immediately, Mikoto glanced at him with narrowed eyes.

As though sensing her violent intent, he quickly gave up on grabbing her wrist. However, instead of continuing to walk away, she stood her ground and stared at Galen.

"So…" Mikoto was defensive, wary of the man before her. "You're related to Therestina?"

The smallest of crackles escaped her control.

There was no immediate response. His eyes searched over the face of this girl who had spoken out the woman's name as though unsure how to react. Finally, he nodded and sighed, like a teenager who had been caught trying to shoplift from a store.

"I'm her brother."

"Were you involved in creating the Crystallized ESPer Essence?"

"No." He responded immediately this time, without showing any signs of surprise or dismay at how Mikoto knew about the Crystallized ESPer Essence.

In any case it was already well known throughout Academy City that Therestina Lifeline had been arrested because of her involvement with the Poltergeist incident, but the existence of the Crystallized ESPer Essence wasn't made public.

Not even Judgment was allowed to reveal that information, as ordered by Anti-Skill as part of the debriefing of the whole affair.

"…"

"Though…" he started with a bit less hesitation toward the sparks that intermittently crackled around Mikoto. "I did invite you tonight specifically because of what happened between you and my sister."

"So you could get payback for her?" Her fringe sparked again.

"No."

His hands went closer to his sides, causing Mikoto to tense her muscles and ready herself for a sudden attack.

Then suddenly he bowed.

"…" Gulping, Mikoto stumbled back, not knowing how to respond to a CEO and Board of Education member bowing to her.

Mikoto felt a different sort of heat than anger in her body of the embarrassment obvious in her cheeks.

"Wh-what are you…?"

"I invited you here…to apologize for what my sister did." He said while still bent over. "While it does not, nor should I try to excuse her actions, I've known that she was not of right mind for a long time yet didn't do anything to prevent what had happened."

"You could say that again…" Mikoto grimaced at remembering that woman.

"Heh…heheh…" Glancing at Galen, Mikoto found the man standing upright but with his hand covering his mouth in order to stifle a laugh.

"Geez…" she looked away with a blush, unsure of how to respond to such an unexpected reaction from him. The anger that had coursed through her seemed to have disappeared with that one utterance of hers, as though her aggression over the whole incident left along with it.

"…I haven't had the best of relations with my sister…much less Gensei."

"Gensei? As in Kihara Gensei, right? He's your grandfather, isn't he?"

As a matter of fact, Mikoto thought again, the company that Galen was the CEO for was "Kihara International".

If anything, Galen may not be implicitly involved with the Crystallized ESPer Essence it didn't mean that he himself was doing something just as evil.

"…? Well, from what happened, I shouldn't be surprised about how much you know about what they've done here in Academy City. I never liked that codger. It's actually kind of amazing that I wasn't disowned when I punched Gensei before…"

A small smile appeared on his face, as he apparently reveled in that act of rebellion.

"While Therestina and he continued their work, I was sent to America to work for one of the many overseas groups that dealt with transferring approved technology. "

As Academy City was ahead by 20-30 years in technology compared with the rest of the World, its technology was always under great demand by governments in order to get ahead of other countries.

Of course, such a market was controlled by not only the supply of approved technology but the available knowledge and infrastructure to properly handle any technology that could be approved for sale to other countries.

It was far from the sort of independent work that Therestina was able to do, as technology transfer was a highly regulated affair.

Thinking over everything that Galen had told her, Mikoto furrowed her eyebrows over what her conclusions were about her invitation to tonight.

"So…so I wasn't asked to come because there were three people in my dorm room?"

"Excuse me?" Galen couldn't hide his smirk at his question, as though he saw that Mikoto had some toilet paper stuck to the bottom of her shoe and she had yet to notice it herself.

"Uh, er…I thought…you knew because…about my Sister, Kate and what she…and…"

"What? No…" he chuckled in response. "…I happened to catch your name floating around in regards with some damage that was sustained to the dorm a few weeks ago. It was my responsibility as a Board member to see through with repairs for that incident, after all. Oh, and that was before my appointment was officially announced, since there's a sort of 'testing' period before one is formally admitted.

"It's not like members are simply appointed because we know someone, haha."

Mikoto, hearing this, could only turn a slight red not only about her wrong assumption about her unusual invitation but about who this Galen Lifeline was. Not to mention how she gained a bit of respect with how less nepotistic really was.

"Ah…haha…I see, I see…"

Trying to brush off how strange she most likely sounded, Mikoto combed back a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"So, Ms. Misaka, back to the incident with my sister…will you ever forgive me?"

Mikoto looked at the man, unsure of what to make of his story.

His name, "Lifeline" and not to mention his connection to Kihara Gensei, was something that could easily be made to associate how Therestina acted during the Poltergeist incident in her mind. At the same time, it was quite unfair to do such a thing to Galen, who so far hasn't given any signs that he was the same as Therestina, since he was so forthcoming about the whole affair unlike most other adults.

Despite some potential reservations, there was simply no available proof to take Galen Lifeline as a villain in Mikoto's eyes.

"Yeah," she said earnestly with a smile. "I can forgi-"

Unable to finish her sentence, her eyes turned vacant, glossing over and she stood sluggishly, Mikoto stared blankly ahead.

Seeing this, Galen lowered his head and sighed. It had taken a bit longer than he wanted, but that was to be expected given the small sample he managed to get.

"Will you ever forgive me…for what I'm about to do…?"

* * *

><p><strong>Between the Lines 4<strong>

It hurt being prodded like a science fair project.

Their tools jabbed at me, and they flashed a light into my eyes every so often just to see my reaction.

How would they like it if they were called "Subject 0" all the time, huh?

It wouldn't matter anyway, though…if they knew I _could_ answer their questions, they'd only subject me to worse things if they realized I wasn't as stupid as they thought.

If that one scientist realized he didn't have to talk to me in English all the time.

I can understand Japanese just fine, so don't think I can't understand you when you speak it whenever you use it to say things I shouldn't be hearing!

Tsk, what a dweeb!

As soon as they let me out of this lab for this stupid trip to Japan of theirs that they've been planning, I'm definitely going to escape.

This place called "Academy City" or whatever…I wonder what it's like?

As long as I can finally be free of being an experiment…I'll be fine…

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Wow! Finally I managed to get this finished and uploaded! You wouldn't believe how long I've been working on this one chapter, haha! Finals were intense but happened to stoke my imagination again after a long bout of writer's block.

This is seriously the most I've written in a single chapter, about 20 pages worth that I feel were integral to have all together and not split up into separate chapters.

I want to thank Cun, the author of great works like "A Certain Destined Introduction" and its sequel, "ACDI: Duel" and "The Curious Gift Shop of Christmas Magic" for letting me borrow Hitomi Aika, Asanuma Reiko and Unabara Ryoko for this chapter.

**Next up: **We'll see what Touma does with an unconscious Sister

- All characters not otherwise stated as Original Characters belong to Kazama Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura as author and illustrator, respectively.

- Thanks to fellow To Aru Majutsu no Index writers and their works for inspiring me with drive to continue whenever I hit a wall.


	6. Counter Attack part 1

**Part 1**

The mission started promptly at 6 am.

Passing into the country's borders and entering the target area's perimeters from international waters took thirteen minutes.

In the sprawling urban landscape below, the city was still waking up in the autumn morning twilight.

Through the use of satellite telemetry and supercomputers able to calculate the varying movements of the Earth in its position in the Solar System, based on archived data of continuous observations for many decades, the sunrise was scheduled for 06:38:52:21.

That is, sunrise and promptly afterwards general activity in the city below would begin in six hours, thirty-eight minutes, fifty-two seconds and twenty-one milliseconds past midnight (local time).

That was currently twenty-one minutes from now.

Such calculations were not an impossibility or even difficulty for elements related to Academy City.

Such measures were especially prioritized for the use for "special operations".

As members of a secretive organization, such special operations that were determined "Black", meaning that they were too unappealing for discussion in open conversation and diplomacy was handled by them, and not the general police and military forces of Anti-Skill.

Unlike the commercial supersonic planes that were designed around passenger comfort, the HsB-02 supersonic stealth bomber that the "Black Operations" team was currently aboard was designed around mission capability and stealth.

While as a bomber the HsB-02 was capable of widespread damage or pinpoint attacks using its "Earth Blade", as a group of them displayed to the world in Avignon, France in the suppression of riots there, the stealth bomber was currently used primarily as a transport plane.

Within the stealth bomber, the group that was to take part in the operation met one last time before the active portion of the mission was to begin.

"Here is your mission…"

A grizzled-looking support organization member began. Wearing a well fitting all black uniform, unshaven stubble had begun to grow on the man's face and chin while the hardened stare and healed scars of previous wounds dotted his forehead and cheeks.

"You will have fifteen minutes to locate the target and destroy it. Upon confirmation of the target's destruction, light yourself up with the diode strobe to be teleported back onto the plane. Is that understood, sir?"

The grizzled-looking support organization member was speaking mostly to the smaller and comparatively waif-like teen. With a face that elder Japanese people would definitely be fond of, the teenager did not look at all like he belonged in such a dangerous situation.

Standing next to the teen was a girl wearing the jacket of her high school uniform draped over her shoulders while wearing a pink crop top and a very short pleated skirt.

Getting only a nod in reply to the quick briefing, the grizzled-looking man sent a "thumbs up" signal to the door hatch operator.

The creak of metal and intense winds entered the cavernous interior of the cabin, roaring as the difference in pressures sought to pull anyone who hadn't managed to tether to a seat or find a strong hold outside the plane and into the open sky.

Like a vacuous aquarium window, a wide view of the still darkened city became an astounding sight. Especially at the altitude that they were flying in, it was the sort of mesmerizing thing one saw should they look down while crossing a gorge via a perilous wooden suspension bridge.

Even with the use of a radio head-set provided to everyone involved in the mission, the grizzled-looking man had to holler over the roaring winds that were characteristic of high altitude pressure change between the open sky and the previously pressurized area of the plane.

"Synchronize watches on my mark…mark!"

The three people clicked on their digital devices and were now linked.

All of their watches had now begun counting down from 00:15:00:00, that is, fifteen minutes exactly.

"Alright!" The grizzled man continued. "Three! Two! One—GO!"

In the moment of a blink, the brown haired teen was no longer standing on the edge of the open plane door overlooking the still dark city below and found his surroundings change to that of the interior of a building.

While it was possible to do so, the time it would take to glide or parachute from the plane toward the building like Special Forces had traditionally done in the past would have eaten too much time from the mission. Also, to ensure maximum cover, it was necessary to keep from damaging the building structure as much as possible.

Which meant that the instantaneous movement made possible by teleportation was the only option.

A wide labyrinthine office space of two meter tall cubical walls and desks, to be exact; at the far reaches of three of the sides of the 300 meter square room were floor to ceiling glass windows while the fourth was a wall.

It was the magician's goal to head toward the computer mainframes, where there were banks of five foot tall computers that most likely were in charge of operating the system that the building was based on.

His goal then, was to head to the floor just above where he was because of several reasons:

The fear of flooding immediately ruled out travel all the way down to the basement.

Also, in order to lessen the bandwidth necessary and increase overall speed of the network, the computers had to be physically close to the floor that the office where he currently was.

Therefore, Mitsuki Unabara (or actually, a magician disguised as a brown-haired teen named Mitsuki Unabara) determined, he was in-between the 50th and 54th floors of the 60 floor building, where the cooler air at that height would reduce the necessary output of an air conditioning system to cool down the computers.

Since the office itself would be on the floor directly under the computer floor, direct access would be limited by those who had access to the secure elevator that led to this floor, as the general elevator schematics for the building showed that they actually skipped the computer floors.

Unabara stepped forward carefully, unable to see as his eyes were unadjusted to the much darker conditions within the building than they had been in the plane.

Every step had to be made with a purpose. He could not risk tripping on an unforeseen object to both minimize the time it took to reach the computer mainframes as well as to keep away from the embarrassment of such a thing from happening.

The Aztec magician was unable to see 1.5 meters ahead of him, barely able to avoid colliding into the labyrinth that was formed from the cubicles of the office space.

Feeling the soft small fiber rug under his feet, Unabara took special care not to trip as he moved toward the opposite side of the room, where the stairs to the all important computer mainframe room.

He had made it all the way to the middle of the office space when a voice happily called out in the darkness.

"It's about time Academy City showed up!"

Defying his wariness, a zip of air flew cut his right cheek from behind and caused the wall ahead of him to implode from a sudden force.

Immediately taking action, Unabara spun around while running to the nearest pillar just two meters away, aiming his spear of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli to fire at the first thing he noticed: a bulletin board on the opposite wall, which succeeded in creating hesitation in his attacker while he disappeared behind the pillar.

Without saying anything further, his attacker sent out several more shots that bit out pieces of the concrete pillar like it was wet cardboard.

Unable to stay safe any longer, Unabara rolled to his right, barely avoiding a shot that flew a few meters over him and shattered a glass window.

Staying low under the 2 meter high cubicle walls, the brown haired boy sought to catch his attacker during the sudden pause in attacks from a new angle.

However, the projectile attacks started again with ferocious accuracy.

Dodging and scrambling from behind the cubicle walls, the disguised magician found it very strange how he was out of breath by the time the attacks paused again, despite on a previous occasion being able to calmly and coolly destroy a rebellious underground faction from within before they could invite mercenaries into Academy City.

He had even fought against a surprisingly good opponent of a fellow Aztec magician acquaintance, who had snuck in and disguised herself as an ESPer girl in order to assassinate him.

'_How are they tracking me?_' Peering over the top edge of the wall, he dropped down as soon as a projectile had been shot at him without a moment's warning.

'_More importantly, how are they still managing to attack me?_' He wondered with apprehension at the thought.

Determining from the results of the attack, one would think that a gun of some sort was being used.

However, there were no initial sounds of gunpowder being set off like that of a traditional firearm, as even the use of a suppressor would not completely "silence" a gun but narrow the sound of a gun's blast to make it sound like a laser as the concussion of air was lengthened.

If anything, the signal of an incoming attack resembled more like a bolt from a crossbow slicing through the air, though even then there was no mechanical sound from the device that fired those explosive projectiles.

It was as though knives or darts had been thrown fast enough to pierce through the wood and cloth material of the office cubicle walls then suddenly exploded.

While Academy City was known to be on the cutting edge of all sorts of technologies, it would only make sense in this case that the enemy was either in possession of such a weapon that was probably thirty years ahead in sophistication to anything possible in the outside world, or that the enemy had somehow managed to create an Academy City-like weapon.

Scuffling along the floor now to prepare a quick counter attack Unabara readied his Spear of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli just as a projectile once again blasted through the cover that was supposed to have hidden him from view.

"Shit!"

He cursed out loud, only to find three more projectiles aimed where he was because of his outburst.

Because of sheer luck, he managed to avoid being skewered when he rolled forward.

Using his momentum, the Aztec magician took to his feet to concentrate a blast at the pair he could now see as a result of his eyes adjusting to the low level of light on the opposite side of the office space.

For the first time in the last few seconds Unabara saw them dodge to avoid a sudden explosion as the result of his Spear's attack, which reflected the light of Venus onto a single target to utterly destroy it.

As the conditions of his replica of the Spear of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli presented themselves, he was restricted to depending on the direct light of the planet Venus to shine onto his obsidian knife.

As a result, Unabara was prohibited from pursuing any farther to push his opponent's pause lest he lose his proximity to the windows that opened to the night sky.

Realizing his hesitation, the soundless projectiles restarted and exploded the ceiling above Unabara, forcing him to move to the right in order to stay behind the cubicle walls. As he ran, he managed to aim his own shot just to the right of a figure that barely disappeared behind a far off cubicle.

While this sort of shoot-out was perfect for Unabara in any other situation while creating a surefire strategy to defeat his opponents, he was unfortunately pressed for time because of his mission.

It was because of his mission that he was not against "enemies" that he had to utterly destroy but was put against "obstacles" that prevented his accomplishing his mission before time was up.

"_It's already been 10 minutes! Geez, what's taking you so long?_" a voice screamed impatiently in Unabara's ear as zips of air shredded through the cubicle walls haphazardly.

"Well…" the boy sighed in a light manner, prompting the girl on the other side of the radio to exhale derisively. "It appears that our attempt at stealthily destroying the computer mainframes have come to a halt."

"_What's that supposed to mean? You didn't get caught by some security guard, did you? Spit it out already!_"

If he had simply been detected by a part-time employed night time security guard like the voice accusingly asked, Unabara would never had a problem with dispatching with such a person. Or at least, knocking out or even disabling a non-threat like a security guard would have been all that was necessary.

"ESPers."

"_Tsk…_" the voice clicked her tongue as she said something away from the radio. "_Well it's not like we don't already have a foothold on their beach head…_"

Within a moment, several explosions shook the building and sections of the glass window that spanned a side of the office space exploded inwards from a sudden attack as a red haired girl quickly zip lined into the room, using the shards as a makeshift fragmentation grenade to spread all throughout the space to cover her entrance.

What happened could be made akin to an artillery barrage sending covering fire for the cavalry reinforcements speeding in to attack the enemy's flank.

As quickly and suddenly as she appeared, the tether she rode in on disengaged and fell uselessly over the bottom edge of the floor above.

While it was possible to burst through the office window, the previous attacks sought to break through the side of the computer mainframe room only to find the side of the building reinforced.

Such a tactic was considered last minute as the primary desire of the mission was to be as stealthy and unnoticed by the target as possible. All of that changed when it was discovered that there were enemies lying in wait for Unabara's appearance.

Still unadjusted to the light, Musujime gripped the military flashlight in her hand tightly, and kept ready for the projectiles that she heard about from Unabara over the radio.

The recent arrival to the battle, Musujime Awaki, had a power called "Move Point", a sort of teleportation skill.

It was using Move Point that Unabara had first managed to appear within the office building when it was still thought that they hadn't been detected.

Rather than using a similar teleporting method of entering the battle, the twin-tailed Musujime decided to use a zip line for two reasons.

The first, which was the only one that she would openly admit to, was because as a result of the battle between the unknown number of enemies, the space was surely changed from what the schematics would have described, which led into the reason that the teleporter would angrily deny and lash out in a violent manner in order not to discuss.

As a result of a past accident, Musujime had many problems and hesitations in teleporting herself, on account to how gruesome the injury she had sustained was. While she would rather not, Musujime was still capable of teleporting herself when absolutely necessary, but the changed battle space of the office surely created a predicament that became a higher priority than the speedy accomplishment of their mission.

Several shots from the still inaudible projectile stuck out in response to the girl's sudden appearance, but its sporadic nature lessened the accuracy and sought to suppress more than take out its intended targets.

"If it's just the two of them, then I'll just—"

The light of the star-illuminated sky filtered more readily in because of the bombardment that impacted the walls and glass of the building, allowing more light to be sent into the area around the edges of the battle. It was only at the other side of the floor where the targeted entrance to the floor above was that the light still failed to reach.

Using this to her benefit, the teleporter prepared to wave her flashlight to send a heavy desk against her barely more visible enemy when suddenly Musujime hesitated. As she looked across the darkened battle space and retreating from her boisterous attitude, the red-headed girl ducked behind the cover of the cubical walls.

"Hmm?" Unabara glanced over at the other GROUP member with an arched brow.

Noticing his glance, Musujime growled at the accusatory look. "Shut up! I…I just wasn't ready, alright?"

"…?"

* * *

><p><strong>Part 2<strong>

Unlike her enemies, Ishida Setsuko's sight was never hampered by the darkness.

In fact, she was much better off in the dark because of the nature of her eyes.

A type of clairvoyant, Ishida had the distinct honor of being able to see AIM fields.

AIM stood for "An Involuntary Movement".

It is a type of energy that all ESPers unconsciously emit.

From the weakest Level 1 to any of the seven Level 5s, each and every ESPer has a unique AIM signature, like a fingerprint that related to their particular power and personal reality.

Whole fields of study have been created and entire facilities devoted their resources to study the phenomenon and learn the mechanics and reasons behind its existence.

While an invisible kind of radiation to the human eye, machines and devices have been invented in Academy City in order to observe AIM.

Ishida Setsuko's very ESPer power however allowed her to see AIM without the use of such machines or devices.

She called it "Arc Channel".

As a Child Error abandoned because of her perceived blindness, it was quickly found that Setsuko's eyes were in actuality completely overwhelmed by the amount of AIM radiated by the 20,000 ESPers that resided in Academy City.

It was only when she was taken away from Academy City and brought to an outside research firm that Setsuko had regained her sight and learned how to use her powers.

She was able to see beautiful streams of light, of a multitude of colors that streamed from the few other ESPers that belonged to the outside research firm that had taken her and the others in.

These streams of light that AIM took form in her sight varied depending on the type of power and the level of the ESPer.

The weakest sort of AIM looked like insignificant static pulses that danced about around a person while an impressive power in use could light up a room or as in manifested in her current fight, become a single tendril of light that revealed the desired coordinates of the enemy teleporter's attack.

Thus, it was for this research firm that was now under attack by Academy City that she fought to protect those people who had saved her and essentially gave her a new chance at life.

Her unique abilities had expedited the research into AIM that was necessary for several new technologies that had come out, all of which was independent of Academy City's creation and/or development.

So with the use of special goggles or scopes, others were able to see the same sort of AIM manifestations that she did naturally.

It was obvious to her that this was one of the many reasons that Academy City was now attacking them in such an open manner.

Her eyes followed the path that a tendril of red light took, which was a manifestation of the AIM that came from the teleporter girl, which extended just over her own head. Knowing the meaning behind this sight, Setsuko called out "Target at zero; forward fire!"

This meant that the attack would come right on top of them, if one would imagine the field as a giant four quadrant grid with their position set as the origin point. Determining that there was not going to be any movement on the enemies' part, Setsuko ordered her partner Ogiue to fire again on their current position.

As Setsuko stepped quickly to her right, a large office desk appeared just over where she stood and dropped with a heavy thud and crash. At the same time, Ogiue took aim with the plastic-looking rifle and fired.

What could be technically called a rifle did not look like any traditional sort available outside of Academy City. In fact, even the barrel was not exactly a barrel as it looked more akin to a vacuum with a wide and thin mouth.

The type of shots fired by this special rifle was not able to be seen in the visible light spectrum.

As a form of radiation that followed along a designated track of AIM, the projectiles that the high-tech weapon produced were unimaginably precise when dealing with ESPers.

The tracking device used by both the scope and the targeting software were developed using research on Setsuko's abilities.

In order to keep the prototype rifle AIMTR-143X a practical size and weight, the battery cartridges loaded into it became the sole power plant, powering the scope, targeting software, firing mechanism and acted as the ammunition at once.

As a result, each individual battery lasted optimally for seven high powered shots, fifteen low power shots, or five hours without firing.

By this point in time, Setsuko's partner had gone through ten of their twelve available battery cartridges.

"Three left." The boy referred to the shots left in the current battery cartridge, which was the eleventh one.

"…" With a sigh, the blond-haired girl whispered to the boy next to her. "You should be able to do well enough against that teleporter with that sight, so I'll track down that other ESPer with the weird weapon."

She was referring to the first attacker from Academy City that who through the initial exchange of fire had an absurd look to his AIM field.

Rather than being emitted, the energy that Setsuko's "Arc Channel" ability noticed from the enemy was collected from some unknown source, like a chemical cold pack that absorbed rather than released heat.

"We're going radio silent."

"Alright." He agreed with the plan and they split up.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 3<strong>

As their eyes had since adjusted to the low light, the two members of GROUP saw the obstacles to their mission split up, as the girl left probably to flank them while the rifleman stayed in place and continued to take potshots instead of using suppressive fire tactics as before.

Still, it was slightly a good thing since things were now moving along as they had so far been able to avoid the teleported projectiles that Musujime had sent without displacing thus far.

"Geez…" Musujime glanced at the digital clock on her wrist.

A moment after sending a vicious glare at the magician nearby, the twin-tailed girl waved the mag-light in her hand in a bored manner in order to summon yet another desk that blocked the path of the whirring incoming projectile. "I'm taking your paycheck for this mission, got it?"

"If I fail to accomplish my objective, by all means…" Mitsuki more than seemed like he entertained the thought with a superficial smile.

As though to punctuate his underlying sarcasm he peeked out from behind his covered and aimed the tip of his spear at the pillar where the blonde-haired ESPer girl was hiding and quickly disintegrated it.

While both members of GROUP, neither Musujime nor Unabara felt compelled to work as a team.

On the contrary, all four members of GROUP were more or less united in the fact that they were essentially blackmailed into their current positions. Each had someone who they fought for.

This meant that while they all generally had the same goal to accomplish their assigned mission their differing goals kept them from fully investing in the complete success of their blackmailer, which was Academy City itself, much less one another.

This meant that they were able to separate to defeat who they needed to defeat without needing to worry about the others. If they failed and died, that meant they were not able to see through protecting who they wanted to protect.

It did meant that they were all individuals set on not interfering with the other.

The boy ESPer, at first caught off guard from Musujime's attack, scrambled for safety behind another pillar as shards of the glass window fell from the ceiling where he just was after Unabara's attack.

"Since they're splitting up we might as well do the same, should've we?" the brown haired Aztec also known as Mitsuki Unabara suggested.

"Tsk…fine…" Musujime quickly responded. "Then I'll…uh…take care of that _brat_…"

With a sort of impatience the teleporter quickly rushed up and left the other GROUP member behind to confront her designated target.

Barely able to suppress her excitement at this point, Musujime proceeded forward in an almost reckless manner, throwing out desk after desk in order to flush out her prey.

At the same time, she had to take care to find cover after every few shots completely tore through the cubicle walls or pillars that she hid behind.

"_Ohhhhh…you're only making me want you even more, cutie…_" she whispered to herself as she approached ever closer.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 4<strong>

There was about a five minutes' pause in the fight.

The two sides had split into two groups, each a one versus one battle in the darkened office space.

The boy was now on his last cartridge, haven spent through his shots quickly in a growingly futile attempt to hold back the teleporter encroaching on his position.

Since going into radio silence a few moments ago, a sudden shake of the building above him confused him as to how his partner Setsuko was doing.

Still, it was his responsibility to keep the teleporter out of his partner's fight before they could regroup and finish off the enemy from Academy City.

"Hey…I, uh…lost him…" he now heard the girl from behind him, when she should have been off fighting the other Academy City attacker.

Turning around, he could only watch as his ally glanced at him coldly and wordlessly produced a black sharpened crystal.

He recognized the strange object and realized too late that the person standing before him wasn't Setsuko.

The scope of the rifle spiked at the now registered AIM waves that irregularly moved in an inward fashion and which were entirely different patterns than his partner's.

A pieces of the ceiling fluttered down onto his shoulder as the boy realized that a hole had been bored through each floor aimed directly for a specific point in the sky, as a single spot of light settled on his arm and in an instant, a searing pain exploded as red blood splashed on his face and the surrounding area.

The shock of the attack unsettled his balance as his limb could no longer be felt, and the ESPer tumbled to the ground with widened eyes and mouth left agape.

"Uh….ugh…" He panted, staring at the shattered threads of his sleeve and the pouring red liquid where his arm once was.

In a single moment, he felt both numbness and an excruciating heat, as though boiling metal was pouring through the veins of his left arm. However, he was unable to grasp at where he felt the devastatingly painful torture and only the stub of his shoulder to stem the blood flow.

"I've already taken care of the target." The blonde Setsuko looked away and spoke in an unfamiliar male voice. Smiling all the while, the girl moved to peel off a portion of her skin from her left arm, which caused her to morph back into the second attacker from Academy City whom the real Setsuko had sought to split away from the teleporter girl.

Through his hazy thoughts, the boy held back the gruesome thoughts that surrounded the realization that the patch of skin came from Setsuko.

The brown haired teen moved to pull on a chord that activated a diode to alert the stealth bomber flying overhead that their mission was a success.

However the teleporter who would have pulled him back onto the plane was with him in the office building.

"Aww, don't cry, little boy."

Through his teary eyes, Ogiue glanced up from his spot on the floor toward the approaching girl who wore a grimly entertained smirk on her otherwise pretty face.

He could only clench his teeth, unable to respond lest he groan out in pain and further stimulate this enemy standing before him. Instead, he slowly sniffled back the tears that continued to flow from his eyes.

Crouching very close to the ESPer boy, who looked no older than 11 or 12 years old, Musujime arched her eyebrows upwards at the piteous sight before her.

"I promise I'll take care of that nasty looking boo-boo for you…" she stroked her hand through his hair in a caring manner, lightly brushing her nails along his sweat-soaked scalp. "…but first," she continued and brought her hand down to pinch his chin to keep his face directly aimed toward hers. "Because of all the trouble you caused…your big sister Musujime has to dole out your _punishment, _okay?"

Softly pressing her palm on the young trembling ESPer's cheek, her smile turned predatory as she licked her lips.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

Haven recovered from my wisdom tooth operation (left side only, aru!) that took place a few weeks ago, I've been beset by things such as summer trips, work, summer biology class, everyday distractions and full-on writer's block. In addition my thursday evenings are devoted to karate as I try to go for grading for 1st kyu this or next month. I know exactly where I want the story to go and generally what I want to happen, but to actually write it out has been quite challenging considering how lethargic I historically get over the summer.

Add to how my daily routine has been totally ruined by my operation and subsequent period of recovery and my motivation has totally taken a hit.

I literally made 5-6 rewrites of this chapter. As in after fully writing it, I more or less "scrapped" it and used some portions of previous versions into the newer one (or left out, depending). Within each rewrite I would let the chapter sit until I figured out exactly what I wanted to write, so...this has been a long one coming!

On top of all that, I decided to actually split chapter 5 into two chapters as

1) I've long been due for a new chapter and didn't want to hold up an update for too much longer

2) Because of the long time since posting, I wanted to make it up to you readers by providing more content instead of the shorter progression toward the end of the fic (yes, it's coming soonish) I originally had planned.

I decided to pit two Original Characters, Ishida Setsuko and Ogiue against Musujime Awaki and Unabara Mitsuki (Etzali), a strange enough duo I've yet to see happen in the novels (I'm up to volume 20) or other fanfics. I'll let Setsuko and Ogiue's fates stay ambiguous, since it's better that way (Alas, I barely knew them!).

It was a bit of a challenge to figure out how to develop the two OCs (originally it was planned to be a whole GROUP vs other ESPers battle but I scrapped that for a much, MUCH more delicious idea later on in the story) as well as what the powers/abilities of Setsuko and Ogiue would be.

**Next up: **We'll see what Touma does with an unconscious Sister (for real, this time)

- All characters not otherwise stated as Original Characters belong to Kazama Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura as author and illustrator, respectively.

- Thanks to fellow To Aru Majutsu no Index writers and their works for inspiring me with drive to continue whenever I hit a wall.


	7. A subconscious insurgency

**Part 5**

In a different part of the world entirely, the sun would soon begin to set.

"She is in fact another Sister like myself' Misaka says to begin the explanation."

As the other group of girls, which had comprised of Himegami Aisa, Tsukuyomi Komoe and Tsuchimikado Maika had left, the Misaka clone felt freer to talk about the current situation without worrying about implicating others into the problem. Facing Touma, whose attention was more or less divided between listening and being distracted, Misaka Jun was unsure if she should continue. She sat on the floor in the traditional Japanese manner, unlike the teenaged boy who sat with legs forward.

The only other person in the room was a small silver haired nun whom Jun had seen before, and was thus more unsure as to whether to keep talking about their situation; a situation that involved a long haired girl who held quite a resemblance to her and a certain Level 5 ESPer. It was only on the word of Kamijou Touma, known as the Savior to the remaining 10,000 Sisters in the world, that she allowed this information to be made known to the other girl. The silver-haired nun sat in a cross legged manner in a way that was allowable under the long skirt of the nun's habit.

"…As to her specific identity, the Misakas including the Administrator believe to think that she is none other than Misaka 00000, Full Tuning' Misaka reveals in a dramatic fashion."

It was difficult to form an ominous tone through her monotonous way of speaking, but the short-haired Sister was nonetheless disgruntled by the lack of full attention paid to her. This was supposed to be a staggering revelation, as another part of the original SISTER project was revealed to the Savior. Another Sister was mentioned whom Misaka Jun had bet that the spiky-haired teen would jump into action as he did when he saved herself and the rest of the remaining Sisters during the project's heyday.

Instead, Kamijou Touma kept his sullen eyes aimed down toward the remains of a phone in his upturned hands.

"Haa…that doesn't change the fact that it's totally fried…"

Looking over the now defunct device in his hands, Touma tossed his cell phone onto the carpeted floor in front of him. While it wasn't the first cell phone he's ended up needing to replace, it would be the first time not even the SIM card was unusable.

When he said that it was "fried", Touma meant the chips, the processing board, the SIM card, and even the screen and keys were slightly melted because of the apparent heat obvious from an electronic device that had seemingly exploded.

It was only a miracle that Touma didn't feel the heat nor find his pants on fire from such a strange happenstance.

"Touma! Stop trying to change the subject with your communication device!"

The girl who had just spoken in such a commanding tone was Index, the silver-haired girl dressed like a nun. Sitting on the carpeted floor to the left of Touma, Index pouted as though the boy had recently committed a heinous crime such as eating her favorite food…which of course, was all food in general.

"Please explain why short-hair's sister and you came back with this girl who smells like…" wanting to speak further but unable to because of Misaka Jun's presence, Index couldn't come up with a creative euphemism so simply ended her question there.

It was a rule like a high and thick wall built around a bank to protect a treasure; the rule not to tell those unaffiliated with a thing such as magic. Especially not with those very obviously entrenched in the Science side like the girl known as "short-hair" and the girl sitting amongst them who was apparently related to her.

"…why did this long-hair have a Vodun protect spell around her?" She pointed without looking at the still girl lying on the only—proper—bed in the apartment.

"A 'vo'-what? You're probably mistaken."

Despite the lame excuse, Touma felt this was the best way to continue in order to keep Index out of trouble and becoming involved and placed into danger.

"Does she smell? I didn't really smell anything!"

Since he accepted Misaka Jun's cry for help Touma determined that he would be the only one putting himself into danger to save the long-haired Sister.

While mired in his thoughts, Index crawled forward with impeccable speed like a cockroach and shoved her face improperly close to Touma's while she interrogated the spiky haired teen. As the keeper of 103,000 magical grimoires and texts, Index definitely couldn't be mistaken about such a thing. "Uguuuu…" Index growled at such an admission from the spikey haired boy and promptly snapped at him.

Unfazed by the strange turn of events between the two tussling in front of her, Misaka Jun tried once more to gain Touma's attention in the interest of the Sisters that were listening in through the Network.

"The one known as Full Tuning…"

"Agh! Miss Index! Please spare this Kamijou Touma such a punishment!"

"…though she was created before the Sisters…"

"Touma! Stop avoiding your punishment for your lechery!"

"WHAT LECHERY?"

"_Smelling_ a girl? Why would you _smell _a girl! And an UNCONCIOUS one at that?"

"I _didn'_t smell any girl, _damn it_!"

"…Full…"

[I could smell the use of a fetish dedicated to Ghede to deny evil Lwas from possessing her body while outside but it disappeared before I could even investigate it! What did you do, Touma!]

"_**How can I understand what you're trying to say while your mouth is wide open and trying to bite me?**_"

"Fine then!"

"Owowowow! WHY ARE YOU PINCHING MY NIP—"

In a blur of motion, an object slammed against Touma's head sending him backwards and the surprised Index was pulled along, her grip tightening until she was thrown off the yelping teenaged boy and onto the carpeted apartment dorm floor, become a two-person pile-up.

"She is awake.' Misaka announces her observation." The Sister said in her usual tone.

Sitting upright in the bed, the long-haired brunette had scrunched her lips and eyebrows toward the center of her face, contorting her pretty visage into a-less-than attractive scowl. Her arm was outstretched, and from a quick glance at where the object—Touma's cell phone—had flown from, it was plain to see that this girl was the culprit of the violent act.

Their fight stopping as quickly as it started, both Touma and Index quickly shuffled over to the previously unconscious girl in an effort to have their questions answered. A red mark was clearly visible on Touma's forehead while the nun's habit on Index's head was mildly wrinkled and misaligned from the previous tussle and fall.

* * *

><p>"…" The long-haired girl opened her mouth to scream at them. '<em>You're too loud, idiot!'<em> She wanted to say, but found no such complaint was produced.

Blinking at the seeming cross wiring between her mind's motor signals from her brain to her voicebox in her throat in between what she felt was the proper intake of air in her lungs and prepared enunciation of her lips, tongue and mouth to manipulate the result of vibrations of her vocal chords, the girl scooted back a bit from her spot on the bed. "…!" She tried to shout now, but only a sharp exhale was heard while her face plainly displayed her intent to scream at idiot sitting eagerly close to the bed like an idiot.

'_My…voice…? Why can't I…?' _

She felt herself begin to shake. She didn't want to start shaking, _no_, she hadn't _told_ her body to tremble slightly at this terrifying turn of events, after waking up in a strange apartment and finding herself in the company of a stupid looking teenaged boy. The same boy who she remembered was there before when a searing pain led to her blacking out in the first place.

There were thoughts and faces that floated and hurtled through her thoughts. Identical faces, faces wearing masks; bright lights and sharpened surgical tools. Hearing a cold voice command her, her responding to the serial number-like name that was spoken at her, not to her.

'_What happened to…?'_

A soft touch against her trembling arm alerted her to the boy coming close to her.

The sight of a hand, covered in sterile white doctor's gloves appeared in her mind which followed the feeling of terrible pain.

"…!" '_GET AWAY!' _

She screamed out loud in her head, hitting away the boy's hand and jumping further back against the wall that the bed was lined up along.

* * *

><p>"Hey zero-zero-zer…uh…<em>Rei<em>, are you alright?" Touma reached out for the girl without regard of how this would look and affect the feelings of the other two girls in the room.

"…" the long-haired girl opened her mouth to speak but didn't, while smacking Touma's outstretched hand away from her. "…!" In an instant she fled away from his presence, pressing herself against the wall of his apartment as far away as she could from him.

'_Did my hand hurt her?_' Touma glanced warily at his offending hand that caused the long-haired girl to panic.

The previously loud-mouthed girl who had no problems running him around in a circle had such a drastic change since she woke up. The look of shock was plain to see as no sound at all escaped from her lips despite how loudly it looked like she was trying to yell or scream.

As he had already met the Sister known as "Last Order", Touma wasn't all too surprised to see yet another variation of the Sister's unlike most of the others who generally looked like a certain Electromaster.

While not as radically different as a ten year old girl, the long-haired sister seemed to be slightly older by a year or two than the normal Sisters, but just as unpredictable in behavior as the Administrator to the Misaka Network.

It was to Touma's understanding, as Misaka Jun had explained it to him about the Sister, that she was known as Full Tuning, Misaka series model 00000, much like how Jun was 10032.

However, because of the zeros, and how a name of "Full Tuning" didn't really sit well in his mind, Touma in a sudden need to calm this girl down, had simply shortened the long-haired Sister's name to "Rei".

"Intriguing, there does not seem to be any sorts of transmissions occurring unlike earlier!' Misaka displays her astonishment at the turnaround in the situation."

"…" the long-haired Sister furrowed her brow toward the other brunette's analysis of her. Her eyes rang of recognition of Misaka Jun, while calming her down seeing her also seemed to make Rei quietly tense and anxious toward the short-haired brunette.

'_She's being awfully quiet now…_' Touma thought as he watched the girl with caution.

Just a few hours ago the long-haired brunette sitting across from him was one of the most boisterous and spiteful girls he had ever met.

"Touma…why can't she talk…?" Index asked quietly, hoping for the girl not to hear. This didn't seem to be the case unfortunately, as Rei's brown eyes flickered toward Index but slowly drifted downwards to stare at the sheets as though it was what asked the offending question.

Index's unease proved to Touma that this wasn't a result of Magic, or if anything, it was something that was not even listed in 103,000 forbidden books.

Was it then a result of Science? As a Misaka Sister, was this some sort of affect of her growth as a clone? Was it related to what had affected Misaka Jun? Was it part of another experiment being carried out by the darkness of Academy City?

Touma's eyes lit up for a second as he stood up and reached to the side of his desk and grabbed his backpack from under a mess of paper and a large math textbook, stuffing his hand into it as he searched for something.

"Here, why don't you use this?"

Taking his hand out of his backpack, Touma returned to the side of his bag and offered the girl a notepad and pen to write what she wanted to say, leaning toward her in a much more deliberate, careful manner.

"Oh, quite an innovative solution.' Misaka says in marvel at the Savior's unexpected quick thinking."

Index couldn't help but nod in agreement while crossing her arms.

"Geez, it's not like I'd rather have any more misunderstandings to happen!" Touma sighed at the low expectations of his character by others.

By then, the notepad and pen had already been grabbed as quickly as a stray cat snatching an offering of food held out by a passerby. Returning to her spot of pressing against the wall while sitting on the bed, the long-haired Sister began to scribble onto the paper furiously.

Touma sighed and conceded that while a bit rude; this was still progress in finding out what was going on.

[What did you do, idiot? (*￣m￣) ]

"I didn't do a thing, you brat!" Touma finally snapped, unable to handle the girl's ongoing abusive treatment."

"…" Her eyebrows furrowed and after tearing out and throwing away a crumbled page she returned to writing on the notepad.

[What did you do, idiot? (*￣m￣) (ò_ó) ]

"What the? All you did was add another of those stupid emoticons! You didn't have to write that all over again!"

She tore out another page and wrote into the pad.

[That's because you won't answer my question, idiot! (,,#ﾟДﾟ):∴]

Having the pad shoved into his face this time, Touma tried to slap it away but was restrained by the other girls who took his place asking the girl questions about what was happening.

"Was your voice the price you paid for the Vodun spell, long-hair?" Index jabbed a finger into Rei's shoulder.

"Does the term 'SISTER Project' mean anything to you?' Misaka begins her attempt to reassess the level of your programming."

By this point the long-haired girl was no longer pressing herself against the wall but rather sitting in a most relaxed posture while hunched in order to write her response into the notepad. Although it took a few tries and two ripped pages, she revealed the page for the others to read.

[Just because I can't speak, it doesn't mean I'm deaf! Idiot, help me with these two! （ ﾟ Дﾟ）]

"All of a sudden you want my help? Sheesh!"

Getting back to his feet, it didn't take him much effort to pull the two girls away as they continued their battery of questions aimed at the long-haired girl.

"Touma! Don't you understand that it's important to know who cast that spell?"

"It would be most detrimental to myself and the other Sisters if another incident occurred that stemmed from Misaka 00000' Misaka tries to say while investigating a potential rival."

Not paying attention to the girls' particular complaints about his interference, Touma planted his focus into figuring out the long-haired Sister's sudden loss of voice as well as the reason she was such a scare for Misaka Jun.

In his mind, the image of the girl suddenly looking hypnotized came into being. She began sputtering out words that were like computer code, and immediately the girl known as Misaka 10032 fell to the ground.

_"Please…help Misaka protect her…"_

'_There has to be something I can do…_' Touma thought to himself as Misaka Jun's plea echoed from earlier. '_But I need to deal with Index first. There's no way I can involve her in this at all!'_

It didn't take long for his eyes to register a pattern of lines that hovered over a white background appear before his face. Looking ahead, Touma was staring straight at the notepad, from which the long-haired Sister was holding so close that the words were nearly blurring from its proximity to his eyes.

[I'm hungry (¬_¬)]

Touma simply smacked the growing irritancies of the girl's messages to him down onto the bed, surprising her and causing her to jump slightly. He saw that in order to have shoved the notepad at him, the girl had to leave the wall entirely, kneeling at about halfway forward on the bed as her short arms would have been unable to reach from where she sat earlier.

Looking around, Touma noticed the growing mess of crumpled up balls of paper strewn all over the floor. And glancing at where the notepad fell, the charred remains of his cell phone reemerged in his consciousness as a point of frustration as a teen living in Academy City.

Considering that he planned to get another cell phone to replace his damaged one, "I figure that it'll be better if I get you a phone so you can type in it so you don't have to keep writing on notepads." Touma sighed at how his good idea slowly began to drain on his patience now.

"Alright…" Touma acquiesced as he thought up what to do. "Since it'll be on the way to getting those phones, how about we go out for a bite? My treat, ok?"

At that suggestion, the girl's eyes flashed with a new emotion that Touma hadn't yet seen; excitement.

"…" The girl scrambled for the notepad and pressed the pen tip onto the paper, writing a bit more hurriedly than she had with the last few notes she had been writing, even when compared to the speed of her scrawls when answering Index and Jun's questions.

[So…my name can _really_ be Misaka…Rei…? (ーー;)]

"I mean, if you want it to be, sure! I just thought instead of calling you 'Full Tuning' or all of those zeroes that Rei would be shorter. Unless you want to be called something else, or—"

Immediately shaking her head, the long-haired girl with almost panic in her eyes quickly jotted down into the notepad and displayed what she wanted to say in slightly messier handwriting than before.

[No! I like it, please call me that! （ ﾟ Дﾟ）]

"Oh. Sure thing, _Rei_." Touma smiled, thinking she wanted to be called _that_ specifically.

With a severely reddened face and mouth agape, Misaka Rei slapped Touma out of nowhere.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 6<strong>

In the 7th District, there are a number of places such as arcades, stores and restaurants that cater mostly to the student population during their off-hours. In Academy City, where 80% of the 2.3 million residents are students, it would be madness for a shop-owner not to tap into such an obvious market.

Of all restaurants, Touma decided on a popular venue called "Akuto no Imouto-tachi" for a particular reason. Primarily that because of the nature of the restaurant, Touma was sure that no one he knew would likely be present whereas many of the other restaurants and take-out joints in Academy City were frequented often by classmates or people who'd most likely cause trouble upon happening on a threesome of cute girls like the set that were with him.

While the outside of the establishment was quite plain, almost like an office building, the fact that he learned of the place's existence from Aogami Pierce would mean a lot to anyone who knew the blue-haired, piercing wearing-teenager. Leading the way, Touma and the girls were confronted by a plain-looking office worker who stepped in front of the arbitrary-looking door.

"The password, sir?"

"Uh…what did he tell me, again? 'Sisters…are the cutest'…?"

"Eh? T-Touma!" Index's cheeks flashed red while Misaka Jun glanced away in order to hide her own blush. Misaka Rei leered at the boy in an attempt to hold back from openly attacking him.

Looking intently ahead, the teen was unaware of all of what was happening behind him, focused more on the office-worker standing in front of the door.

"Hmm, that's an old password, sorry." The man shrugged and stayed planted in front of the door.

"The heck? That lousy Aogami didn't tell me the passwords changed…"

"Oh? You know Mr. Aogami? Well…that changes things, then…" he said, scratching the back of his head at Touma's name dropping. The man bowed apologetically while stepping away from the door and opened it for the four as he did so. "Please send my regards to Mr. Aogami when you see him next, dear customers."

Ushering the quiet long-haired Sister into the restaurant, Touma, Index and the short-haired Misaka Jun each followed suit and walked up the stairs into the building. The door closed behind them, but their attentions were grabbed by the striking contrast of the gentle colors and lighting that greeted them upon reaching the top of the stairs.

In fact, cheery cute music was distinct enough from the blaring j-pop that was heard outside of the building by the other stores and restaurants that very much added to the mood. At the top of the staircase, the area opened up to a single room about 20 meters by 30 meters wide. Several booths and tables were set up and they were populated by a various number of customers, each of whom seemed quite content by both the scenery and the waiting staff that walked around the booths providing orders or standing around and chatting.

There was a sign that stated in bubbly text "Masters and Mistresses may take their own seats"

Seeing an empty booth nearby, the four went over and took their seats and ordered their drinks from their waitress who arrived promptly.

While not dressed in a maid costume, the girl was obviously in a non-traditional waitressing costume of some anime or manga origin, or at the very least was inspired by the genre as the many frills of her clothes and the short length of her skirt that met with matching knee-socks seemed to espouse such a theme.

The waitress, who smiled politely at the group couldn't hide a look on her face that was amazed at how a single teenage boy could be accompanied by so many cute girls, yet despite that her amazement wasn't noticed by someone has dense as Touma.

"I'll be back when you're ready to order, masters!"

The waitress dressed in a brightly colored outfit said anxiously as she rushed to another table where the customer was asking for more water.

Sitting next to him, Index was busy munching on some sugar cookies that were present on the table when they had arrived, while the Sisters sat across in the other seats. The two girls looked very much like fraternal twins, as the longhaired Rei seemed to take the role of an older sister whereas the shorthaired Jun looked about in curiosity at the set-up of the café they had been brought to.

It didn't take long for the food they ordered to arrive and in a few moments it had already been finished.

"So, now that we got that done and over with…" Touma began with a somber sigh, returning his wallet that was now much lighter after paying the bill into his pocket, "…let's try to get this Full Tuning thing figured out. What can you tell us, Jun?"

* * *

><p><strong>Part 7<strong>

Amai Ao was feeling anxious and paranoid.

He was driving an old car, which because it was an Academy City-made model, was still about 10-20 years ahead of the technology available in the outside world.

He had managed to buy the car using connections to the dark side of Academy City, because as an illegal guest who had entered the city under a false identity, he had no way of being able to buy from a dealership or rent a car from a rental company.

Because he had once been a major part of Academy City's plans but had betrayed them for another faction within the Science side, Amai Ao felt afraid for his life as a principle, but the feeling was aggravated exponentially every minute he was in the very city he had betrayed, as though he were trapped within a heavy smog on a humid day.

Despite this feeling, even while he was in the center of the Science side, there was a "condition" that prevented Amai Ao from being detected even though people were after his life.

Not only was this condition unbelievable, especially to a scientist and researcher like him, but it was astounding that he never knew how much it related to Academy City's enemies outside of its walls, especially outside of Japan focused within the great city of Rome. That same enemy, that lived within a city that was sovereign and responsible for its own actions within Rome, was just like Academy City, being a city not subservient to Tokyo or the country of Japan.

This enemy was not only similar to Academy City in such a respect but it was also the central power within another world that was not of Science, but of an unbelievable thing called "Magic".

In other words, the Vatican, which commanded about 2.1 billion Catholics around the world.

This very Vatican had announced that it would be rebuilding a great church just outside of Academy City, which was secretly an enemy of Science and had an ongoing conflict unknown to most everyone in the world.

Unbelievably, because Amai Ao had defected to another faction within the Science side, the condition that prevented his capture by those after his life was based in the concept of magic.

Because it was something he completely didn't understand, he was amazed at its effects at how he was yet to be caught while succeeding in finding the thing he was looking for: a short-haired girl who was sitting in the seat next to his, still and unconscious.

It was a simple enough task to actually retrieve a Sister in order to continue plans that required Full Tuning despite the extremely stressful search it took him the past few days since she "escaped". It was now only a matter of waiting until the girl known as "Full Tuning" would come to him, unlike the slight danger that was involved in taking the girl currently in his possession. Misaka 19090, who was ordered to stay with the original Misaka Mikoto was more or less defenseless without the Level 5 to protect her.

He could have sworn that there were supposed to be other girls associated with the Electromaster, but as it turned out that he didn't have to deal with them, Amai couldn't care less where they were.

All that mattered now was getting Full Tuning in order to get his full revenge on Academy City.

As the creator of the Sisters, Amai had secretly added a program into the prototype Sister to return to him when an error was detected in any way, whether it was losing connection with the passive and active signals sent to her or any sort of bodily harm. With most ominously an issue that needed looking into, the sudden disappearance of the transmissions responsible for Full Tuning's communication abilities had ultimately led to this point, his waiting for Full Tuning to come to him.

While the missing transmissions that originated from his computer lab in America, where he had been staying since betraying Academy City, would need addressing, such an occurrence had played into his hand this time.

Unlike the primary Misaka series after her, Full Tuning was only a prototype.

She was first created in the hopes that she could replicate the power of a Level 5 Electromaster as a special soldier series for "Radio Noise" but when that was found to be impossible, as the Tree Diagram predicted that the clones would barely be a significant enough percentage of the original's potential, the full 20,000 Misakas were planned for production for the "Level 6 Shift".

That plan, the Level 6 Shift, was a calculation that Misaka Mikoto who was the third ranked Level 5 had to be killed 128 times by Accelerator but because this was impossible, and Level 5 clones had been found impossible, 20,000 Sisters considered at Level 3 would be used to fight Academy City's number one Level 5 and help him achieve Level 6.

Full Tuning however, as Misaka # 00000, was not part of the Level 6 shift.

For the most part, there was too much that prevented the further production of a Sister like Full Tuning, since there was too much external computing needed to process the many calculations for an ESPer clone even one as low level as she was.

While the full Sister series would eventually have Misaka # 20001, Last Order, as an Administration unit, Full Tuning lacked that.

To compensate for not being part of the Misaka network, Full Tuning was connected to a series of computer mainframes stationed in several places related to Academy City both within and outside its boundaries.

However, several complications forced those mainframes to fully move outside of Academy City in order to keep it from harm when Misaka Mikoto began an attack on many research facilities related to the project and Level 6 shift.

Amai Ao, who was deeply familiar with the dark inner workings of Academy City and the head scientist and researcher in charge of the projects, could only watch as his investments burned away as piece by piece of it was ruined.

Not only by Misaka Mikoto's constant interferences but finally by Accelerator, Academy City's strongest ESPer and the number one Level 5, when he was defeated by a Level 0 teen.

Far from incapacitated, Accelerator continued on, leaving the experiment shamed, but relatively unscathed.

Ao on the other hand lost everything that night; His investment, his reputation and his career prospects within Academy City.

The night of his betrayal, when he planned to leave Academy City in ashes, that very same Accelerator interfered and nearly killed him. Even more disturbing was the fortuitous outcome of his confrontation with Yoshikawa Kikyou. His injuries prevented his original plan of using Full Tuning to boost the chances of making the Sisters go on a rampage, which obviously led to its failure.

This time there was no way he would let himself trip up because he knew that Academy City could not be destroyed without using Full Tuning. And there was no way anyone would let him live should fail this time. Not even his allies.

When he came across her standing outside of a plain-looking building waiting for pickup, it seemed almost too easy a conclusion to his worries. He had already stepped out of the care and approached the longhaired girl in the most casual way a paranoid researcher with a price on his head could, and succeeded in grasping his hand around the girl's wrist when another Sister sprang out to stop him.

"Misaka won't let you kill another Sister!" the girl viciously scratched at Amai, surprising him by the amount of anger she was able to express as he wrestled against the smaller girl clinging onto him.

But then the prototype Misaka 00000 acted out on its damage assessment protocol, disabling the Sister with a short range electromagnetic pulse by thrusting an open-handed stab at the girl's gut charged with the proper level of electricity before entering the car. She was programmed to return to Amai for repairs and to neutralize any obstacle to achieve that goal.

In a panic now, the researcher rushed into the driver's seat and stomped on the accelerator, squeeling away from the scene with the two girls now in his car. While there was a pair of witnesses to that scene, Ao figured he had lost them long ago, as saw no one pursuing him when he glanced in his rear view mirror.

All that he had to do now was take Full Tuning to Galen Lifeline and Ao could finally be safe from Academy City forever.

* * *

><p>Going so far as to steal a person's scooter, Kamijou Touma and Index chased after the person who had kidnapped Misaka Rei.<p>

It was a most disturbing thing to see when he and Index returned from the bathroom to find both Misakas missing from the booth. It took the pained scream of a girl that followed the crackle of electricity outside of the restaurant to lead them downstairs and outside to find Misaka Jun falling onto the sidewalk as man in a white lab coat got into a car and sped off.

While it was obvious to see Misaka Rei, sitting blank-faced and robotically still like she had when she recited code in the backseat of the old car, it was the unconscious Sister in the front passenger seat that really alarmed Touma.

"Hey! Stop!" He shouted in vain and attempt to chase down the car as it squealed away and took off down the road.

"Touma!" Index wanted to try following after, but directed her attention to the short-haired brunette who struggle to sit up on the sidewalk. "Short-hair!"

"Go! Please help him…" Misaka Jun groaned through gritted teeth.

Index nodded and rushed off after Touma, jumping onto the backseat of the scooter before he could ride off.

"Index?" He hollered at the sudden bounce of the scooter while he revved its engine.

"Go Touma! I smell that vodun spell from that car!"

"Right!" He acquiesced, realizing the implications of her statement. The man in the white lab coat had not only kidnapped Rei and another Sister, but was involved in the same kind of magic that was used on the longhaired Sister. There was no way he was going to let such a central figure get away and cause further harm for his friends.

He barely paid attention to where they were going; only focusing on following the car that held the girls and their kidnapper. If anything, Touma noticed how familiar the area was becoming as he headed toward a large building that spanned a few blocks.

"Touma!"

"Yeah, I know, Index!"

The car had a significant advantage as it disappeared out of sight for a moment, but as the gears in his head began to crank from seeing where it had turned, Touma knew where the man had escaped to.

Slowing to a stop, Touma and Index stepped off the scooter and looked ahead at the familiar sight.

Before him was an encompassing set of buildings, nearly finished in its construction.

They had arrived at what was once called the Church of Orsola.

* * *

><p><strong>Between the Lines 5<strong>

There is a man in a white researcher's lab coat. Sitting behind a panel of computers and electrical equipment, he is looking through a wall of specially made safety glass into another room. This other room, brightly lit as opposed to the darkened room where the man sat watching the experiment, had a long table where a young boy was strapped down and attached to a number of wires that carried collected data into the computers.

While it did not seem like it, this was now the third part in a battery of experiments to determine the pain threshold of the boy that was lying on the table, scared and panting and covered in sweat. The bright lights caused the boy to squint while he panted, looking upwards at the ceiling of the sterile white environment of the experimentation room. The boy was trembling in pain at the third application of high voltage sent into his body from a number of electrodes taped amongst the various sensors to register his body's vital signs.

In slow drips, a yellow puddle formed on the floor as the boy had succumbed to his muscles unable to fully control their contractions.

"Ha! This is the extent of a Gemstone, eh? I'm embarrassed."

"I'm…very s-sorry, sir…"

Their voices were carried by use of microphones between the two rooms and each heard the other's comments through speakers that slightly distorted the quality. A number of cameras were focused on the boy in the other room, and they each correlated to four screens in the dark observation room that were trained on different angles of the subject.

"Hmph…I guess I have no further use for you the-" He leaned over to switch the intercom to an outside line when the subject pulled against the straps and stared pleading at the observation window.

"NO PLEASE!" the boy shouted out suddenly. "Anything but that…I-I can keep going…sir!"

"Oh, really?" The man smirked at the boy's eager response. His finger, hovering over the "Line 3" button, slowly withdrew to a comfortable spot on the panel while his other hand tapped its fingers in a pattern. While it wouldn't be too unexpected for a Child Error to volunteer to continue, as that would mean being sent back to a facility and probably used for an experiment that had a much lower survival rate, the scientist was intrigued by how far the boy was willing to go to stay in his good graces. His hand pressed down on the "Talk" button to let the boy hear his voice as he spoke into the microphone.

"Fine, fine…you're doing a fine job as an adopted son of the Kihara family."

"Thank you…" the boy trembled as the wild contractions of his muscles continued. He gasped out for air as relief was obvious in his voice. "Thank you, sir!"

To this, Kihara Gensei gave an approving smile.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

As always, I hope you appreciate the number of turns I've provided in the story. There are a few answers, but also some more questions seeded as we move ever closer to the climax.

Busy with class and hit with a major case of writer's block, I offer this chapter with a bit more content than I originally planned as a way of saying "sorry" to make up for the long period between updates. I want to thank all of you who've perused through this story for the past month or so and especially more thanks to those who've kept reading since I first posted this fic.

To "Lazyman12", and "HoloHoro" welcome and thanks for being my most recent reviewers. Jordon, thank you for your frank observations on my writing for every one of my full chapters!

By the way, _Rei_ is a translation of zero in Japanese, while _Akuto_ is an "engrish" way of saying "act"

**Next up:** Touma and Amai Ao meet? What are his plans with Full Tuning? What's happened to Mikoto?

- All characters not otherwise stated as Original Characters belong to Kazama Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura as author and illustrator, respectively.

- Thanks to fellow To Aru Majutsu no Index writers and their works for inspiring me with drive to continue whenever I hit a wall.


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